MAON, Museum of 19th and 20th Century Art in Rende (CS)
Presentation
ACHILLE CAPIZZANO ARCHIVE
an artist from Rende who is named after the “A. Capizzano - MAON”
initiative promoted by the “A. Capizzano - MAON” Center together with the Municipality of Rende and the “Centro Aleph” of Lamezia Terme
At the MAON, Museum of 19th and 20th Century Art in Rende (Cosenza), the presentation of the ACHILLE CAPIZZANO ARCHIVE will be held on November 25 at 6:00 pm, the artist from Rende after whom the “A. Capizzano - MAON”, which promoted the initiative together with the Municipality of Rende and the “Centro Aleph” of Lamezia Terme.
Twenty years after the foundation of the Center, the artist's archive was established, made available by his children Giuseppe and Anna, and which contains all the copies of documents, photographs and materials related to the activity of Achille Capizzano.
Speakers will be: Sandro Principe, founder of the "A. Capizzano" Center, Antonio Coscarella, president of the "A. Capizzano" Center, Tonino Sicoli, director of the MAON, and Stefania Tavolaro, graduated from the DAMS of the University of Calabria with a thesis on Achille Capizzano.
Giuseppe Capizzano, the artist's son, will be present.
The event is part of the program of initiatives for the celebration of the twentieth anniversary, which are currently underway with an important exhibition "MAON. THE COLLECTION / Art of the 20th and 21st centuries and Calabria”, curated by Bruno Corà and Tonino Sicoli, on the twentieth-century collection, which presents the most significant Calabrian artists of the last century and the beginning of the twenty-first, starting from Umberto Boccioni and the historical avant-gardes, up to Capizzano and Rotella himself, as well as the exponents of contemporary art, including the younger generations.
ACHILLE CAPIZZANO was born in Rende in 1907, he studied in Rome, where he moved in 1923, first attending the Art School with the professor of decoration Paolo Paschetto, then the Academy of Fine Arts under the guidance of Ferruccio Ferrazzi, professor of mural decoration. From the late 1920s are the frescoes created for the antechamber and the study of the Minister of National Education together with his high school teacher, from whom he learned the fresco technique and whom he replaced in the chair in 1949. In 1931, together with the architect Luigi Moretti, he founded the Centro d'Arte in Rome, an operational space specialized in various artistic activities including graphics and decoration. In 1933 and 1937 Capizzano supported Moretti, appointed director of the Building Office of the Opera Balilla, in the decoration of the Casa G.I.L. in Piacenza and in the works for the Foro Mussolini, now Foro Italico. Capizzano created the mosaics around the Fontana della Sfera and along the avenue, inaugurated in 1937 but completed six years later. In those years Capizzano carried out a series of other works, including the fresco in the assembly hall of the Casa del Fascio in Monte Sacro, the tempera paintings for the Aula Magna of the Fascist Academy and some drawings for the Bellini Colossus in Monte Mario, in 1935 the decorations for the Pavilion for Childhood Assistance at the Mostra delle Colonie Estivi, in 1936 the frescoes in the Fencing Academy and the mosaics for the Piazza Imperiale.
From 1937 onwards, other prestigious commissions followed at the Palestra del Duce at the Terme dell’Auditorium del Foro, the competition for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1938 and in 1940 for the Palazzo del Littorio in Viale Aventino. In 1940 he won, together with Gentilini, Guerrini and Quaroni, the competition for the wall decorations of the Palazzo dei Congressi in EUR, for which he created the sketch L’Impero which was never realized. From 1939 to 1951 he taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome.
From 1942 to 1943 and he follows the decoration of the Albergo Mediterraneo in Rome for the architect Adalberto Libera. The following year he receives a Prize from the Accademia di San Luca and exhibits in a personal exhibition at the Unione Provinciale Fascista dei Professionisti e Artisti. After the war he exhibits at the II Mostra d’Arte Contemporanea held in Rome at the Galleria Gregoriana in 1945 and creates a large painting for the Cinema Rivoli in Rome in 1946. In 1947 he creates the Poster for the First Calabrese Sacred Art Exhibition on the occasion of the third Regional Eucharistic Congress and in the same year he participates in the VIII Calabrese Biennale of the Mattia Preti of Reggio Calabria. In 1949 he created the decorations and furnishings of the Hotel Hassler in Trinità dei Monti in Rome and the paintings of the dome of S. Maria di Costantinopoli in Rende.
On July 28, 1951, Achille Capizzano died in Rome due to complications that arose after a simple surgical operation. (Silvia Pujia)
Essential bibliography: V. Perugini, Achille Capizzano painter, L. Pellegrini Editore, Cosenza 1966; M. Brunetti, T. Sicoli (edited by), A. Capizzano, catalog of the exhibition at Palazzo Vitari, Rende, 1998, Fratelli Palombi Editori, Rome 1998; T. Sicoli, M. Di Stefano (edited by), Achille Capizzano. Public art and private art, exhibition catalogue at the Museo del Presente, Rende, Edimond, Città di Castello 2010.
