Fondazione Magnani-Rocca is pleased to invite you to a retrospective exhibition displaying well over 80 masterpieces of American Pop Art.

The show on display at the Villa in Mamiano di Traversetolo (near Parma) brings together Roy Lichtenstein and other leading names in American Pop Art, enabling us to appreciate both his personal style and his position in a specific cultural environment. Lichtenstein’s artworks will be exhibited side by side with iconic pieces by Andy Warhol, Mel Ramos, Allan D’Arcangelo, Tom Wesselmann, James Rosenquist and Robert Indiana, in a unique event which was made possible thanks to the collaborative effort of famous museums, art galleries and private collections all over the world.

Roy Lichtenstein (New York 1923 – 1997), is one of the greatest artists of the 20th Century, he influenced commercial artists and graphic designers alike, as well as every field of art, design and communication, which still today constantly reference his style. Together with Andy Warhol, he is the most representative and well known personality in Pop Art, as well as in the entire history of art. His characteristic style inspired by stochastic printing, his use of the comic strip in a pictorial context and his Pop Art revisitations of the distant and recent past have won him a place not only in the history of art of the 20th Century, but also in the collective imagination of the youngest generation.

Decades after their creation, his works are still worth several million dollars in the art market and they are printed everywhere, from posters to t-shirts. Owing to the fame and centrality of his work, Lichtenstein has been the object of numerous survey exhibitions, which have covered all the stages in his long career: from its beginning in the 1950s and its decisive turning point in the early 1960s, years that marked the beginning of his success, which lasted until his death in 1997. Comic strips and Commercial Art: The first part of the show is dedicated to the initial season of Pop Art. Lichtenstein created his most iconic pieces between 1960 and 1965, taking inspiration from the world of comic strips and advertising: this beginning, which has now become legendary, is the theme of the first room of the exposition, which also compares it with iconic pieces by fellow artists Andy Warhol, Mel Ramos, Robert Indiana, Allan D’Arcangelo, Tom Wesselmann, James Rosenquist and others. All of them witness the new society and the new art that reflects it: Pop Art. Lichtenstein perfectly exemplifies this season, with masterpieces such as Little Aloha (1962) and Ball of Twine (1963), as well as an extremely rare painting belonging to his early production, VIIP! (1962). The pieces that stand out among his graphic works are his famous reinterpretations of comic strips, such as Crying Girl (1963) and Sweet Dreams, Baby! (1965), the best known not only in his production, but also in the entire history of art, custom and tradition of the 20th Century. Abstract works: Lichtenstein is also the author of several paintings that reference the history of art and explore the great theme of pictorial abstraction, which enable us to fully appreciate the variety and complexity of his production and to open up new interpretations of both his work and the entire season of Pop Art. In this case too we find, alongside Lichtenstein’s works, those of his contemporaries, thus carrying on that important dialogue between the protagonists of one of the crucial moments of 20th Century art. Robert Indiana’s literary and numerical abstract paintings (the famous FOUR, 1960s) and sculptures (LOVE) or Andy Warhol’s “Flowers” Series are perfect illustrations of the climate of the time. Some of the best known among Lichtenstein’s abstract works are the “Landscapes” and “Entablatures” series of the 1970s. In his landscapes he portrays a natural theme with complete abstraction, using also plastic materials taken from the contemporary world, in an intriguing short circuit of tradition and innovation. In the same way, the “Entablatures” reprise a typical motif in classical art, but transform it into pure abstract adornment: the best representative of this series is a nine feet long work lent by the Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain de Saint-Étienne for the purpose of this exhibition. In the same period, Lichtenstein created another genre directly inspired by the history of art. Inspired especially by Picasso and Matisse – but also from Surrealism, as seen in the famous Girl With Tear (1977), lent by the Beyeler Foundation in Basel – the shapes are the pretexts for reinterpreting art and its genres through its own language, thus leading to the cannibalization of the history of the representation of both educated and popular images. Immediately after that his style jumps from the precise reference to its insertion in a more complex representation: the brushstrokes flake off, losing their traditional unity and identity in space, but at the same time the forms remain identifiable, as a fixed point among the rapidly changing appearances of the world. The workshop: In the show, the works of art will be intersped with a series of photographs portraying the artist at work in his study. The authors are two important Italian photographers, Ugo Mulas and Aurelio Amendola, who have both photographed Lichtenstein at different times. This way we are allowed to enter into the workshop of the artist, and also to understand the relationship between him and Italian culture. The aim of this unique exhibition is providing an exhaustive overview of the artist’s creative journey through a close inspection of every season and theme in his production. As such, the show offers two parallel interpretations: the first follows a chronological principle, while the second delves into and examines every aspect of each theme, which reflects Lichtenstein’s own method. Apart from the paintings, special attention is given to the graphic works, which belong to a crucial moment in his production, as they marked the beginning of the universal acclaim of both Lichtenstein and Pop Art. Indeed, both own their popular success to graphics and its power to spread and disseminate ideas. Curated by Walter Guadagnini, author of important essays on Pop Art, and Stefano Roffi, scientific director of the Fondazione Magnani-Rocca, the show can also be experienced from a double perspective: the first is historical/iconographic, as it touches on Lichtenstein’s uniquely free and coherent style, and its shift from linear figure to abstraction. It this view, we witness the birth of what was termed “Pop Abstraction” through Lichtenstein’s works and those of his fellow artists. The second is the disciplinary perspective, highlighting both the complexity and the unity of Lichtenstein’s artistic journey, which appears extremely modern in reconsidering painting from the point of view of the graphic reproduction of the image, as well as completely classical in his desire to assign a specific, significant role to each discipline. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue published by Silvana Editoriale, featuring essays penned by the curators and texts by experts Stefano Bucci, Mauro Carrera, Mirta d’Argenzio, Kenneth Tyler, as well as detailed photographs of every work of art on display.

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LICHTENSTEIN AND AMERICAN POP ART.

Fondazione Magnani Rocca, via Fondazione Magnani Rocca 4, Mamiano di Traversetolo (Parma).

Fondazione Magnani-Rocca, via Fondazione Magnani-Rocca 4, Mamiano di Traversetolo (Parma). 8 September – 9 December 2018. Open on festivities, including 1 November and 8 December. Closed on Monday. Opening hours: FROM TUESDAY TO FRIDAY: 10 am – 6 pm. The ticket office is open until 5 pm. SATURDAY, SUNDAY AND FESTIVITIES: 10 am – 7 pm. The ticket office is open until 6 pm. Tickets: Adults: € 10 (includes the visit to the permanent collection). Student groups: € 5. For the reservation and purchase of entrance tickets (adults groups and schools concessions) please contact: tel. 0521 848327 / 848148 or info@magnanirocca.it or see www.magnanirocca.it A guided tour of the exhibition “Lichtenstein and American Pop Art” is available on Saturdays at 4 pm and on Sundays and festivities at 11.30 am, 3.30 pm and 4.30 pm. Entrance tickets that include the guided tour may be reserved by emailing segreteria@magnanirocca.it or be purchased directly at the ticket office until sold out. Tickets: € 15. Catalogue published by Silvana Editoriale, ed. Walter Guadagnini and Stefano Roffi, with essays by Avis Berman, Stefano Bucci, Mauro Carrera, Mirta d’Argenzio, Walter Guadagnini, Stefano Roffi, Kenneth Tyler. Press department: Studio ESSECI, Stefania Bertelli gestione1@studioesseci.net tel. 049 663499 Main Sponsors: FONDAZIONE CARIPARMA, CRÉDIT AGRICOLE GROUP IN ITALY. Under the patronage of: Camera di Commercio di Parma. Media partner: Gazzetta di Parma. With the collaboration of XL Catlin, leading company in the ensurance of works of art, and of AON S.p.A. Technical Sponsors: Angeli Cornici, Cavazzoni Associati, Fattorie Canossa, Società per la Mobilità e il Trasporto Pubblico.

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