On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Lionello Balestrieri's birth, the Centro Cagianelli per il '900 promotes a Cultural Calendar entitled Nel regno delle fate: Lionello Balestrieri tra romanticismo, Gothic Revival e Bohème, in collaboration with the Fondazione Pisa, Fondazione Palazzo Blu, Amici dei Musei e dei Monumenti Pisani, under the patronage of the Region of Tuscany and the Municipality of Pisa.
Aimed at promoting Lionello Balestrieri (Cetona, 12 September 1872 - 24 October 1958), who is attested in our territory in two important nuclei, respectively with 15 aquatint etchings at Palazzo Blu and with 23 works, including engravings, oils and mixed techniques at the Cagianelli Centre for the 20th century, this Calendar focuses the spotlight on the artist's role in the rebirth of colour engraving in the national and international sphere.
Already celebrated at the Pinacoteca Comunale Carlo Servolini in 2020 with the important exhibition 'Engraving at the Time of the Belle Epoque. Lionello Balestrieri verso Montmartre", promoted by the Municipality of Collesalvetti, conceived and curated by Francesca Cagianelli (9 July-27 August 2020) and with the video entitled Lionello Balestrieri, Italien de Paris, curated by Francesca Cagianelli made on the occasion of the exhibition and dedicated to the artist's engravings owned by the Fondazione Pisa and preserved at Palazzo Blu, Lionello Balestrieri returns today as the protagonist of the Pisa Cultural Calendar, marked by online columns and themed educational itineraries, culminating in the concluding event consisting of the Conference/Exhibition entitled "Lionello Balestrieri: The places of dreams between Venice, Paris and Brittany', promoted by the Cagianelli Centre for the 20th century in collaboration with the Pisa Foundation and Palazzo Blu.
Saturday 14th May, 2022, 5.00 p.m., the 2nd episode of the Calendar, dedicated to the online column conceived and curated by Francesca Cagianelli, entitled Il gothic revival, consisting of an unprecedented scientific reinterpretation of a nucleus of engravings conserved at the Fondazione Palazzo Blu and Centro Cagianelli per il '900, dominated by pervasive, as much as visionary, architectural scenographies.
Saturday 21 May, at 5.00 p.m., will be the turn of the 3rd episode, conceived and curated by Stefano Bruni (Department of Humanistic Studies, University of Ferrara), entitled News on Manon: Lionello Balestrieri's crossroads between Puccini and Massenet, in which the scholar will explore the bibliographical discoveries concerning the artist's iconographic choices adopted in the engraving dedicated to the protagonist of the two operatic masterpieces.
Curated by Dario Matteoni, art historian, director of the Accademia di Belle Arti, "Alma Artis", Pisa, the 4th episode will once again be punctuated by an online column: Il Balestrieri dannunziano: percorsi inediti tra letteratura e incisione, scheduled for Saturday 28 May 2022, 5 p.m., during which some surprising new developments will be announced regarding the literary sources favoured by Balestrieri during the first decade of the 20th century.
On Saturday 4 June 2022, at 5.00 p.m., the final event of the Calendar will be held, coinciding with the Conference/Exhibition entitled "Lionello Balestrieri: The places of dreams between Venice, Paris and Brittany", promoted by the Cagianelli Centre for the 20th Century in collaboration with the Pisa Foundation and Palazzo Blu. Through a historiographical path centred on the suggestive comparison between the engraving Coin de Boulevard (Centro Cagianelli per il '900), Venice and Preghiera Bretone (Fondazione Palazzo Blu), Lionello Balestrieri's complex expressive parabola will branch out towards geographical trajectories destined to evoke the topoi of international music and literature.
For information: https://palazzoblu.it/
