The Peggy Guggenheim Collection celebrates the 60th anniversary of Osvaldo Licini’s death and of the Grand Prize for painting that was awarded to him by the Venice Biennale, with an important exhibition titled: OSVALDO LICINI. Let Sheer Folly Sweep Me Away.
The exhibition, curated by Luca Massimo Barbero, aims at highlighting the intensity of Licini’s artistic experience, which embraces different figurative and intellectual paths, all hanging in an “unstable balance” between abstraction and representation.
If art was a religion, this artist could be defined as an heretic: indeed, Osvaldo Licini breaks every artistic rule with his creativity, by placing himself above any artistic and social convention.
Licini moves in the artistic field with complete freedom, with the aim of expanding what can be represented, always driven by an incessant need for experimentation.
OSVALDO LICINI. Let Sheer Folly Sweep Me Away intends to follow the stages of a singular experience that standS out in the history of twentieth-century art for its extraordinary lyricism and poetry.
The exhibition path features over 100 works and begins with the paintings of his first figurative phase, where the main characters are the hills of the Marche region. The exhibition continues with the non-figurative phase of the ‘30s, when he became involved in the activities of the “Il Milione” Gallery, and ends with his masterpieces dedicated to the Flying Dutchmen, Amalasuntha, and the Rebel Angel.
From the ‘40s onwards Licini emerges as a great protagonist of the Italian and the international modernism alike.
The exhibition is complemented by an exhaustive catalogue, published by Marsilio Editore in Italian and English, featuring contributions by Luca Massimo Barbero, Federica Pirani, Sileno Salvagnini and Chiara Mari.
