Orologio notturno-diurno a proiezione

Villa Brignole-Sale 1932 Genova - acquisto

ambito romano - manifattura genovese

Campani, Giuseppe - Ganzinotto, F. C.

G.P.B.2533

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 92,5; Larghezza: 61; Profondità: 30

cassa in pero ebanizzato, tagliato, bronzo fuso, mostra in rame dipinto

Un'ostinata illusione: la misurazione del tempo e gli orologi Luxoro - Genova - 2004

The painted copper exhibition presents in the centre, surrounded by a piece of sky on which, at the corners, four disembodied heads with swollen cheeks symbolising the winds have been arranged, the dial with the Roman numerals on which a mythological scene has been painted, where Time is depicted pointing to a female figure who has just entered a small chamber, identifiable, due to the presence of a spear and armour, in the goddess Minerva, protector of the sciences and the arts, a young woman languidly seated on a throne, depicted holding some apples in her right hand, and therefore possibly recognisable as Venus. This composition, which could hypothetically symbolise the victory of wisdom over earthly beauty and love with the passage of time, reveals in the thoughtful and balanced posture of the figures, in the elegant progression of the clothing, in the way the faces and the male body are outlined, the presence of a hand belonging to an artist active in Rome, probably towards the end of the 1870s and the beginning of the ninth decade of the 18th century, within Carla Maratta's entourage and closely linked to her classical models, so much so that it cannot be ruled out that he may have trained at ului. From the Marattesque results, both the precious and bright chromatic range, embellished, in blue, yellow and white tones, by reflections that accompany the arrangement of the folds, suggesting them, and the strenuous chiaroscuro passages used to enhance the materiality of the fabrics, the lustre of the metals, the softness of the skin and the plasticity of the muscles.

Versatoio

Boselli, Giacomo

M.G.L. 1506

Maiolica decorata “a terzo fuoco”

In the panorama of eighteenth-century Ligurian majolica, the figure of the ceramicist Giacomo Boselli from Savona stands out. He was responsible for a profound renewal of the local production, from a technical point of view, as well as in terms of artistic and cultural reference models. As matter of fact, he succeeded in incorporating first the rocaille taste, then that of the subsequent Louis XVI style and then on to an early adoption of the nascent Neoclassicism that was spreading in Europe towards the end of the century. Attentive to the international scene, he faced ever-increasing competition from French and then English earthenware manufacturers, he also introduced important innovations to traditional techniques, for example by applying the "third fire" procedure to his majolica. A third firing at a lower temperature that allowed the fixing of bright colours, much admired in the eighteenth century, such as purplish red, emerald green and gold. This jug, with its elegant Rococo shape, is a typical example of the best "third fire" production of the Boselli workshop, which interprets with sobriety the influences coming from the contemporary Marseille majolica.

Sculpture

Cassettone a ribalta

Matteo Luxoro 1945 - legato

manifattura genovese

M.G.L. 555

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 116; Larghezza: 128; Profondità: 67

legno impiallacciato

This precious example of eighteenth-century Ligurian furniture is characterized by the quality of its veneers made with exotic woods, which create a delicate luminous effects, forming phytomorphic motifs typical of local cabinet-making, such as the famous "four-leaf clover". Inspired by French models, this chest of drawers stands out for the sobriety with which the shapes of the rocaille style are interpreted, in line with the then current Ligurian taste. The bronze decoration, which is original, emphasizes the curvilinear form of the piece which is part of a matching group of fine eighteenth-century furnishings collected by the Luxoro family, probably originally coming from residences of the Ligurian nobility.

Ritmo

Maria Cernuschi Ghiringhelli 1990

Licini, Osvaldo

782

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 21; Larghezza: 29

olio su tela incollata su tavola

Museo d'Arte Contemporanea di Genova collezione Cernuschi Ghiringhelli - Villa Croce, Genova - 1991<br>Osvaldo Licini. Dipinti e disegni - Ascoli Piceno - 1988<br>Il Milione e l'Astrattismo, 1932 - 1938 - Fermo - 1988<br>Osvaldo Licini - Acqui Terme - 1985<br>1930 - 1980 Astrattismo in Italia nella raccolta Cernuschi Ghiringhelli - Villa Croce, Genova - 1985<br>Annitrenta. Arte e Cultura in Italia - P. Reale, P. Arengario e Galleria del Sagrato (MI) - 1982<br>O. Licini - Galleria Lorenzelli, Milano - 1982<br>Anni creativi al Milione 1932 - 1939 - Palazzo Novellucci, Prato - 1980<br>Lazzari Melotti Licini - Galleria Arte Centro, Milano - 1978<br>O. Licini - Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna, Torino - 1968 - 1969<br>Arte moderna in Italia 1915-1936 - Firenze - 1967<br>XXXIII Biennale internazionale d'arte di Venezia - Venezia - 1966<br>Proprietà Evidenti dell'astrattismo - Galleria Minima, Milano - 1963<br>Mostra collettiva di arte astratta in Italia - Torino - 1935

Licini decided to pursue abstract painting during his studies in Paris in the late 1920s. As a result of his contact with the Abstraction-Création group, in around 1931 he produced his first abstract works, in which both a deep knowledge of the work of Kandinsky and Klee and an innate sense of line can be detected. The artist became part of the circle of the Milan gallery Il Milione and, in an open letter written on the occasion of his solo exhibition of 1935 and published in the gallery's Bulletin no. 35, he clarifies the lyrical and imaginative approach to his work: “We will show that geometry can become feeling”. Maria Cernuschi Ghiringhelli, considered by Carlo Belli to be Licini’s muse and discoverer, immediately fell in love with his art, and it was the Licini works she bought in 1942 that set in motion her painting “collection”. 1933’s “Ritmo” presents the characteristics of the abstract Licini and conscious of geometry.

Achrome

Maria Cernuschi Ghiringhelli 1990

Manzoni, Piero

698

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 50; Larghezza: 30

Caolino su tela

Astrattismo in Italia nella raccolta Cernuschi Ghiringhelli - Villa Croce, Genova - 1985<br>Manzoni, opere uniche - galleria Cenobio - Visualità, Milano - 1967

The first Achrome is from 1957: a casting of gesso and Kaolin on the canvas with a still informal wall-like effect, but one in which the artist's intervention is kept to a minimum. This series of works was designed as “one single uninterrupted surface” where the material becomes the focus on canvas in squares or wrinkled up: “...a white surface that is simply a white surface and nothing else (a colourless surface that is just a colourless surface). Better than that: a surface that simply is: to be (and to be complete is pure becoming)”. His experiments with Achromes continued over the years: they would incorporate objects, straw, wood, stone, bread rolls, establishing themselves as living entities, independent of the will of the artist himself, becoming increasingly synthetic, in fibreglass, plastic and polystyrene balls, and self-generating, with polystyrene soaked in cobalt chloride whose colours change with the changing of the weather conditions.

Specchiera

Favelli, Flavio

4042

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 138; Larghezza: 131

cornice in legno

mostra-progetto “Prima sala d’aspetto” - museo di Villa Croce, Genova - 2005<br>seconda tappa del progetto itinerante "Four Rooms" - museo di Villa Croce, Genova - 2005

In his works Flavio Favelli places the physical space and the mental space on the same level, creating installations capable of acting on the perception of the observer. The use of old furniture and everyday objects allow latent emotions to emerge, thus revealing the most intimate and hidden aspects of our everyday life. Exhibited for the first time at Villa Croce, for the second stage of the “Four Rooms” project, Specchiera became part of the Villa Croce collection. The objects proposed by the artist always arise out of a singular interference between something in existence and an interior reality which materialises in “mental objects”, modified to become part of the house and, in a certain sense, “of the mind”. Specchiera, was placed over the fireplace in the large entrance hall of Villa Croce. The work, incapable of reflecting images, create an interplay of light and shadow, thus displaying hidden, mysterious imagery.

Collective Wishdreams of Upperclass Possibilities

2004

3191

Tecnica mista

ArtBasel, Basel - 2003

Plamen Dejanoff analyzes the mechanisms of corporations-from production to consumption-to focus his artistic work on communication. Reflection on the connections between art and economics invests his own life, with a global redefinition of his image through a communication campaign that leads him to change his own surname, from Dejanov to Dejanoff. These premises gave rise to the Collective Wishdream of Upperclass Possibilities series of which the museum installation is a part. Rejecting the distinction between art object and industrial product, Plamen fuses elements of architecture, painting, and sculpture: objects taken from the world of design or from the production of other artists are no longer extensions of the individuality of their creator, but autonomous hypermachines that generate desire.

Controangolo

Maria Cernuschi Ghiringhelli 1990

Icaro, Paolo

652

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 58; Larghezza: 58; Profondità: 164

Acciaio e lustrini

galleria Gastadelli, Milano - 1976<br>Faredisfarerifarevedere - La Bertesca, Genova<br>Astrattismo in Italia nella raccolta Cernuschi Ghiringhelli - Villa Croce, Genova - 1985

Icaro evolves his research in a conceptual and minimalist direction, in which art becomes a tool for measuring man in space and time. In 1968 in New York he created the first Gabbie, metal bar structures, closely related to the Contrangolo kept at the museum, which create space without occupying it, an “other” space defined by their geometries in pursuit of a balance between the internal and external. This reflection remains a constant in his work and is revived, on his return from the United States. Following a second stay in the United States, interspersed with monthly trips to Calice Ligure, Icaro began to use plaster, which became the medium of choice for his artistic practice, thanks to its malleability, ductility and its ability to retain the imprint of the artist’s gesture intact in the material. Icaro's latest exhibitions are under the sign of “no longer just about space, it is a dynamic research”.

Piatto savonese

Maria Cernuschi Ghiringhelli 1989

625

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 4,5; Diametro: 47

terracotta incisa con buchi

Astrattismo in Italia nella raccolta Cernuschi Ghiringhelli - Villa Croce, Genova - 1985

The Piatto shows Lucio Fontana's interest in a ductile material like ceramics and his connection to the Albisola environment, where he lived in the late 1940s. In Albisola the artist had a small studio from 1947 to 1960 in Pozzo Garitta and used to frequent the Mazzotti manufactory. This sculpture, along with the work Uovo nero orizzontale, were exhibited in the museum's first opening exhibition in February 1985. These two works (Piatto Savonese and Uovo nero orizzontale) were called the “Virginie” by the artist and bear, engraved on the patinated terracotta, the well-known sign-gesture, the artist's stylistic signature.