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Preview: Jack Foley
FILM buffs should flock to the Estorick Collection of Modern
Italian Art this Autumn, to check out the stunning collection
of classic Italian film posters, which will be on show from September
17 until January 25, 2004.
Italy's contribution to the history of cinema was of enormous
significance throughout the 20th Century and its story will be
illustrated through this evocative exhibition at the Estorick
Collection.
From early silent films, through to the great years of the 1960s,
when the works of Antonioni, Fellini and Visconti, and Spaghetti
Westerns were internationally acclaimed, Italy's films have seldom
been off the world screen.
The cinema posters to be exhibited offer an insight into the
most important and innovative periods of Italian.
Film posters are now frequently seen as an art form in their
own right and are also highly collectable historical documents.
The exhibition will feature a wide range of posters from the
British Film Institute's collection, together with rare examples
from private collections.
It will follow the history of Italian cinema, from its early
beginnings, the Fascist 1930s, through Neo-realism, the 1950s
and the creative peak of the 1960s.
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Cinema Italia: Classic Film Posters is devised, curated
and designed by Mel Bagshaw, in collaboration with the Estorick
Collection and the British Film Institute.
He previously devised and designed 60 Years of Batman,
for the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Bollywood in Love,
for the British Film Institute.
This exhibition will undoubtedly appeal not only to film buffs
but also all those who admire the art of the poster and its ability
to conjure up movie memories.
The Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art opened in January
1998 to show works from the remarkable collection created by Eric
and Salome Estorick.
Powerful images by the main protagonists of the early 20th-century
Italian avant-garde Futurist movement such as Balla, Boccioni,
Carrà, Severini, Russolo and Soffici, are shown alongside
works by such figurative artists as Modigliani, Sironi and Campigli
and the metaphysical painter de Chirico.
The museum has a library of over 2,000 books, primarily on early
20th-century Italian art, and houses a café and the Zwemmers
Gallery Shop.
The Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art was named Best
Museum of Fine or Applied Art in the 1999 National Heritage/NPI
Museum of the Year Awards.
ESTORICK COLLECTION OF MODERN ITALIAN ART, 39a Canonbury Square
London, N1 2AN. Tel: 020 7704 9522
Opening hours: Wednesday to Saturday, 11am to 6pm; Sunday,
12noon to 5pm
Admission: Adult £3.50 Concessions £2.50
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