Prima Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Decorativa Moderna

Exhibition poster 1902, poster design by Leonardo Bistolfi

The Prima Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Decorativa Moderna ( German "First International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Art"; English "First International Exposition of Modern Decorative Art") was a world exhibition for applied arts and took place from May 10 to November 10, 1902 in Turin , Italy .

The world arts and crafts exhibition was specifically designed to be modern . It was important for the further spread of Art Nouveau in Italy ( Italian "Stile Floreale", also English "Stile Liberty"). Participating countries were: Germany, Italy, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland, England, Belgium, the Netherlands, Japan and the USA.

In the 150-year history of the world exhibitions, the Turinese have not followed the modern, pure functionality of the exhibition architecture, but an art style , Art Nouveau. It is the only world exhibition devoted exclusively to one art style and marks the climax of Art Nouveau.

Conception

As a cultural and art-historical answer to the Paris World Exhibition in 1900 , Turin continued the architecture and exhibition conception of the Darmstadt ( A Document of German Art , 1901), Munich ( Munich Secession ) exhibitions and the 14th exhibition of the Vienna Secession in 1902 as an exhibition as a total work of art .

Ernesto Balbo Bertone di Sambuy , Leonardo Bistolfi , Giovanni Antonio Reycend and Enrico Thovez were responsible for the concept and management . As with the international exhibitions of 1884, 1898 and 1911, the venue was the Valentino Park in Turin, where the exhibition buildings were rebuilt.

architecture

In 1901 the internationally renowned Italian architect Raimondo D'Aronco (1857–1932) won the architectural competition for the new exhibition building . Other architects involved were Annibale Rigotti and Giovanni Vacchetta , while Enrico Bonelli was in charge of construction . Due to the registration of other countries for the exhibition and a higher demand for exhibition space, the plans had to be changed again and again until the opening. The building project is documented in terms of architectural history.

The most important element of the main building of the international arts and crafts exhibition, which was built in the neo-baroque Art Nouveau style typical of D'Aronco, is the central rotunda (Rotonda d'onore), which shows an influence from the dome of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. In addition to topic-related pavilions (photography, film, automobiles, fine arts), the main building is radially joined by the exhibition galleries for Germany and Italy. In the exhibition concept, you anticipate the first pavilion of the Venice Biennale, built in 1907 .

Artists and works

The world exhibition helped many artists to achieve their breakthrough, among other things it brought the blacksmith artist Alessandro Mazzucotelli the public recognition that established his fame and success. Other Italian artists with great success were the designer Carlo Bugatti , as well as the furniture designers Vittorio Valabrega and Agostino Lauro .

German artists include the sculptor Wilhelm Krieger and, as a representative of the Darmstadt artists' colony, the Art Nouveau artist Peter Behrens .

The Austrian painter and graphic artist Carl Otto Czeschka was awarded a gold medal.

The pavilions

Photography Pavilion

The "International Exhibition of Art Photography" (Esposizione Internazionale di Fotografia Artistica Torino 1902), which took place in the Pavilion of Photography, the Padiglione di Fotografia, had a special position. The building had a flat, rectangular shape, the entrance area, on the other hand, had Art Nouveau features through the almost round entrance, which symbolized a camera eye. The entry heading was “Fotografia Artistica”.

Establishing photography as an art form in its own right was a particular concern of the American photographers of the Photo Secession around Alfred Stieglitz, who at the time represented pictorialism . The works he sent in from the Photo Secession with the artists Prescott Adamson , Robert Demachy , Frank Eugene , Gertrude Käsebier , Joseph Turner Keiley , Robert S. Redfield , Alfred Stieglitz , Edward Steichen and Clarence Hudson White received the only one from King Victor Emanuel III . Grand Prix awarded by Italy itself and made the US-American tendencies known to a wider European audience, especially through the founding of the magazine Camera Work in 1903 .

Rudolf Dührkoop , Franz Grainer (with a portrait of Franz von Lenbach ) and Nicola Perscheid were involved in the exhibition as German art photographers .

A second area was divided around the Piedmontese Vittorio Sella , who presented the genre of mountain photography .

Follow-up exhibitions

Exhibition poster 1911, poster design by Adolfo de Carolis (1874–1928)

In 1911 a series of exhibitions were held in Turin, Rome and Florence to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Kingdom of Italy . An international exhibition of contemporary art was held in Rome and an exhibition of Italian portraiture from the late 16th century to 1861 was held in Florence. The 1911 World Exhibition in Turin ( Esposizione internazionale dell'Industria e del Lavoro ) was dedicated to the subject of economy and work.

The first international arts and crafts exhibition in Turin was the subject of exhibitions on its 90th anniversary. The Galleria civica d'Arte Moderna e contemporanea held an exhibition under the name Torino 1902 in the Palazzina delle Belle Arti until January 22, 1995 . A comprehensive standard work on the exhibition was published (here cited as: Bossaglia 1994). In 1995, a smaller exhibition in the Museum of Applied Arts in Gera followed under the same name, Torino .

Another international arts and crafts exhibition had already been planned in Paris for 1914, but due to the First World War it could not take place until 1925 under the name Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et industriels modern , which continued Art Nouveau in Art Deco in terms of art history .

literature

Catalogs

• Prima Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Decorativa Modern, Torino 1902. Catalogo Generale Ufficiale. Torino 1902.
  • French edition: Première Exposition Internationale d'Art Décoratif Moderne. Catalog Général Officiel, Turin May-November. Torino 1902.
• Riccardo de Spigliati: Guida all I Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Decorativa Moderna. Tipografia Matteo Artale, Torino 1902.
• L. Gmelin (Ed.): First international exhibition for modern decorative art in Turin, 1902. Catalog of the German department. Datterer, Munich 1902.
• La esposizione internationale d'arte decorativa moderna, Torino 1902. Catalogo de la sezione austriaca. Torino 1902.
• First International Tentoonstelling van Moderne Decoratieve Kunst te Turijn in 1902. Verslag van de Nederlandsche Afdeeling. Haarlem 1903.
• Esposizione Internazionale di Fotografia Artistica Torino 1902. Catalogo Ufficiale. Torino 1902.
• L'architettura alla Prima Esposizione Internazionale d'arte decorativa moderna Torino 1902. Catalogo ufficiale dell'Esposizione Internazionale d'arte decorativa moderna. Torino 1902.

Secondary literature

• Alexander Koch (ed.), Georg Fuchs (text), Francis Henry Newbery (text): First international exhibition for modern decorative art in Turin 1902. Koch, Darmstadt 1902, ( digitized from Internet Archive ).
• Vittorio Pica : L'arte decorativa all'Esposizione di Torino del 1902. Istituto italiano d'arti grafiche, Bergamo 1903, ( digitized from Internet Archive).
• Richard A. Etlin: Turin 1902. The Search for a Modern Italian Architecture. In: The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts , Vol. 13, 1989, pp. 94-109.
• Rossana Bossaglia (Ed.): Torino 1902. Le arti decorative internazionali del nuovo secolo. Fabbri, Milano 1994, ISBN 88-450-4776-8 . (Exhibition catalog, with numerous illustrations; bibliography pp. 696–712)
• Hans-Peter Jakobson (Ed.): Torino 1902. The international decorative arts of the new century from Germany, Italy, Hungary, Austria, England, Belgium, the Netherlands. (Catalog for the exhibition in the Museum of Applied Art in Gera from March 28 to May 21, 1995.) MAK Gera 1995, 20 pages, without ISBN.

Web links

• Picture gallery: Esposizione Torino 1902 Raimondo D'Aronco. In: arteliberty.it
• Slide show: Torino 1902 - Esposizione Internazionale d'arte decorativa moderna. In: YouTube , October 12, 2010, 5:24 min., (Italian)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Exhibition: Art Nouveau, 1890–1914 → Turin. ( Memento of October 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ). In: National Gallery of Art , Washington, DC.
2. ^ Pieter van Wesemael: Architecture of Instruction and Delight. A socio-historical analysis of World Exhibitions as a didactic phenomenon (1798-1851-1970). 010 Publishers, Rotterdam 2001, p. 32, limited preview in the Google book search.
3. ^ Hermann Muthesius : The architecture of the exhibitions in Darmstadt, Munich and Vienna. In: Art and Artists. Berlin 1908.
4. ↑ Bernd Klüser, Katharina Hegewisch (Hrsg.): The art of the exhibition. A documentation of thirty exemplary art exhibitions of this century . Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main / Leipzig 1991, ISBN 3-458-16203-8 , p. 25.
5. ^ Georg Fuchs , Kurt Breysig , Felix Commichau, Benno Rüttenauer : Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig and the exhibition of the artist colony in Darmstadt from May to October 1901. A document of German art - Darmstadt 1901 . Koch, Darmstadt 1901, ( digitized from Heidelberg University Library).
6. ↑ Bossaglia 1994, pp. 3-4.
7. ↑ Bossaglia 1994, pp. 75–93: Mainly in D'Aronco's estate in the Galleria d'Arte Moderna (Undine).
8. ↑ This is an introduction to this http://www.daronco.to.it/en/regesto.asp?id=103&auto=0 (link not available) sequence of images of designs, buildings and ornamentation on the registered website of Raimondo D'Aronco, see. the saved pages in archive.org .
9. ↑ Main building of the international arts and crafts exhibition. In: arch INFORM ; Retrieved January 18, 2011.
10. ↑ http://www.daronco.to.it/en/allegati/RaimondoDAronco.pdf (link not available)
11. ↑ Mazzucotelli and his time. In: Il ferro battuto: arredo e architettura. Di Baio Editore, Milano 1996, ISBN 88-7080-567-0 , limited preview in Google Book Search.
12. ^ Paolo Constantini: L'Esposizione internazionale di fotografia artistica. In: Bossaglia 1994, pp. 94-179.
13. ^ Bossaglia 1994, p. 98: Reprint of the letter to Stieglitz dated February 19, 1903.

Coordinates: 45 ° 3 ′ 17.5 ″  N , 7 ° 41 ′ 5.7 ″  E