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Museo Italo Americano Museum: Italian Neorealism, 1932-1960
20 June 2019
The Museo Italo Americano Museum in Fort Mason has announced the free photography exhibit NeoRealismo: The New Image in Italy 1932-1960 that will run from June 26 to Sept. 15. Photographers who documented life in Italy before, during and after World War II, provided a powerful portrait of their country and helped to effect monumental social change.
Italian NeoRealismo. (Left to right) Mario De Biasi, 'Sunday in August,' Milan, 1949; Mario Cattaneo, From the series 'Alleys in Naples,' Naples, 1951-58; and Pasquale De Antonis, 'Rapino, lucky fishing,' Abruzzo, 1935.
"This exciting exhibit reflects our mission to preserve the heritage of Italian Americans for future generations through art, language and culture," said Mary Serventi Steiner, curator at Museo Italo Americano.
HOURS
The exhibit is open Tuesdays through Sundays 12-4 p.m. and Mondays by appointment. Admission is free. The museum is located at Fort Mason Center, 2 Marina Boulevard, Building C in San Francisco.
LECTURE, FILM SERIES
A lecture and film series will take place July 14, July 21, July 28 and Aug. 4. The events start at 4:30 p.m. and cost $20 at the door. More information at http://www.sfmuseo.org/events.
For more information see the news release below.
Museo Italo Americano Museum in Fort Mason Announces Free Photography Exhibit "NeoRealismo: The New Image in Italy 1932-1960"
SAN FRANCISCO -- The Museo Italo Americano Museum in Fort Mason announces a free exhibit entitled "NeoRealismo: The New Image in Italy 1932-1960" that will run from June 26 to Sept. 15. Photographers who documented life in Italy before, during and after World War II, provided a powerful portrait of their country and helped to effect monumental social change.
The images and associated publications are displayed thematically to celebrate and articulate the role of photography in the democratization and rebirth of a nation destroyed by war. "This exciting exhibit reflects our mission to preserve the heritage of Italian Americans for future generations through art, language and culture," said Mary Serventi Steiner, curator at Museo Italo Americano.
The exhibit opens with "Realism in the Fascist Era" which explores neorealism's roots.The camera, initially a tool used for fascist propaganda, ironically gave photographers a means to document the desperate squalor that pervaded much of Italy in the 1930s.Many of the images taken in this period were censored and would remain hidden in photographers' archives for years to come.
The fall of fascism marked the explosion of neorealism, both in its celebrated cinematic form as well as in photography. Though Italy was in ruins after the war, there was hope and optimism in its newfound freedom to rebuild itself. "Poverty and Reconstruction"reveals both the struggle and the courage of a broken nation recreating itself.
"Ethnographic Investigation" portrays the heyday of social photojournalism and of street photography that documented life as it was really lived. It communicates the story of a fragmented country, told by photographers who traveled to every corner of the Italian peninsula in order to document its many realities and to help Italy find its collective identity.
To satisfy the public's post-war craving for uncensored information, print media outlets increased and photographers' roles grew ever more important. "Photojournalism and the Illustrated Press" depicts the golden era following the war and preceding the age of television, where photographic narratives were told almost cinematically -- often released in episodes and special editions.
"From Art to Document" highlights amateur photo clubs and the fiery debates between two opposing schools of thought -- realists and formalists -- fundamental to the history of photography in Italy.
Movie posters and video collages illustrate the link between Italian neorealist filmmakers and photographers. Their common goal was to help Italy create a new self-image that would unite a culturally diverse and economically disparate nation. A key difference being that while cinema depicted realism, it remained essentially fiction. Photographers, on the other hand, portrayed genuine people, real landscapes and collective stories that reverberated with heart and soul, humanity and hope.
The exhibit NeoRealismo: The New Image in Italy 1932-1960 at the Museo Italo Americano was curated by Enrica Viganò organized by Admira, Milan and is sponsored exclusively by the E. L. Wiegand Foundation of Reno, Nevada.
Visit the Exhibit
The exhibit is open Tuesdays through Sundays 12-4 p.m. and Mondays by appointment. Admission is free. The museum is located at Fort Mason Center, 2 Marina Boulevard, Building C in San Francisco. Contact the museum at (415) 673-2200.
Lecture and Film Series
A lecture and film series will take place July 14, July 21, July 28 and Aug. 4. The events start at 4:30 p.m. and cost $20 at the door. More information at http://www.sfmuseo.org/events.