Michelangelo Buonarroti David, 1501–1504 Carrara marble mt 5.17 (height) Florence Accademia Gallery,

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Maddalena Paola Winspeare of the Accademia Susanna Coseschi

Catherine Burnett s i l l a b e Media Print, Livorno 2015 www.sillabe.it managing editor: graphic design: editor: Giulia Bastianelli translation: printing: Regional Secretary for the Ministry for the Ministry Regional Secretary Tourism Heritage and of Cultural in Tuscany Paola Grifoni Director Administrative and HR e Polo of the Former SSPSAE Firenze Museale della città di Silvia Sicuranza Gallery Accademia Director of the Angelo Tartuferi Curators Angelo Tartuferi Renato Miracco Helen Varola Matteo Innocenti Deputy Director Gallery Lia Brunori Administrative Director Accademia Gallery Marzia Marigo Secretariat Angioloni, Giorgio Francesca Ciaravino, Simone Giordani, Cristina Panconi Coordinators Security Staff Flavia Cappelli Antonella Motti Lorella Naldini Photo Credits Archivio sillabe: Cristian Ceccanti, Antonio Quattrone (Florence) York) Stephen Smith (New York) (New Alexo Wandael Cha Paola Tazzini ©

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Washington D.C. Embassy of Ita Italy in U.S. Italy Global Pmg Italia Accademia Gallery, Florence Gallery, Accademia – del David Il luogo for Florence Hero to David: Homage interprets Michelangelo Saracino 20, 2015 May 5 – September dei beni e delle attività Ministero del turismo culturali e Segretariato Regionale del Ministero culturali e deldei beni e delle attività turismo della Toscana Speciale Former Soprintendenza Artistico per il Patrimonio Storico, per il Polo ed Etnoantropologico e di Firenze Museale della città Galleria dell’Accademia Firenze Musei DC Embassy of Italy Washington ISBN 978-88-8347-801-7 thanksDavid NY York, on Hero at Three Bryant Park, New Hero for Florence is a new edition based Accademia Gallery, Florence Accademia Gallery, 5.17 mt (height) x 1.78 x 1.14 mt Carrara marble, steel bars Ambassador of Italy to the United States Hero, 2015 Claudio Bisogniero Antonio Pio Saracino left a better legacy. of Italian Culture in the U.S. couldn’t have ship between our two countries. The year year ship between our two countries. The itage, and now a Guardian of the friend- the of Guardian a now and itage, - David: such a strong symbol of Italian her ultural Heritage and Tourism in Tuscany Cultural Heritage and Tourism Regional Secretary for the Ministry of Paola Grifoni UP. ington and GEM GROUP. - particular to the Embassy of Italy in Wash has an undeniably international scope, in in scope, international undeniably an has uted to the staging of this event, which of this event, which uted to the staging and to all the people who have contrib- and to all the people tude to the Gallery’s management team I would like to express my sincere grati- sincere my express to like would I from Michelangelo’s original. from Michelangelo’s fore, it stands just a few dozen meters awayfore, it stands just a stalled in the internal courtyard and, there- stalled in the internal architect Antonio Pio Saracino has been in- been has Saracino Pio Antonio architect to contemporary art. The sculpture by theto contemporary art. tivating interpretation of the of interpretation tivating to the Gallery’s customary receptiveness will now be able to see a modern and cap- able to see a modern will now be The many visitors to the Accademia Gallery visitors to the The many David - Hero The iconographic value of Michelangelo’s David Saracino’s new edition of Hero nods to Michelan- Antonio Pio Saracino Hero, a public sculpture at Three Bryant Park, New York, was commissioned in 2013 as a gift by the Italian Numerous artists, in the broadest sense of the word (painters, engravers, sculptors, graphic designers, in all various interpretations throughout history gelo’s David, defender of the city of Florence as a Hero, 2015 government and to symbolize friendship between Italy and the United States. I never would have ex- Carrara marble, steel bars photographers and so on), have found the courage to take on Michelangelo’s masterpiece with results becomes a symbol of multiple meanings. Antonio contemporary civic champion who offers protec- pected, two years later, to receive the great honor to see a new edition of Hero in the Accademia Gallery of 5.17 mt (height) x 1.78 x 1.14 mt that differ considerably from the grotesque to the heroic. As regards the reproduction of the sculpture for Pio Saracino’s Hero draws inspiration from the tion and surveillance, and also suggests a long Florence, in the same place as Michelangelo’s David. Accademia Gallery, Florence educational purposes, Clemente Papi’s plaster cast (1847) is vitally important. It formed the basis for the David and becomes symbol of friendship between history of vulnerability spanning centuries, politics With the New York Hero, I wanted to create a symbolic protector of , as David was intended “historic” casts now at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich, the Pushkin Museum in Moscow two countries. The Italian Embassy in DC has been and cultures. Hero for Florence is a new edition as protector of Florence. The statue celebrates the superhuman and the inspiration that it channels. and the Victoria and Albert Museum in . During the twentieth century, the impact of Michelan- promoting from long times those values. What un- Helen Varola based on Hero at Three Bryant Park, The anthropomorphic layered architectural constructions display the universal ability of mankind to ce- New York, NY gelo’s masterpiece on artists constituted an inexhaustible source for comparisons, re-examinations and derlies the very essence of Hero is the artist’s un- Curator,Hero, New York ment its own presence in the world with its perennial construction skills. interpretations as well as more or less explicit and/or partial deductions. There have also been copies in derstanding that the poetic-evocative language of a Antonio Pio Saracino bronze, like the one the Municipality of Florence donated to the Chinese city of Ningbo in 2010. One of people is founded on the impulses of the primordial unconscious being, and that its logic is subordinat- the most remarkable interpretations is definitely the work that the Turkish artist Serkan Őzkaya presented Hero at the Accademia Gallery in Florence, Antonio Pio Saracino is a New York-based De- ed to deep human roots. The poetic side, be it in a at the Istanbul Biennial in 2005. It is a gilded polystyrene copy, precise in its proportions because it was the Power of the Present signer and Italian Architect. Saracino has de- made with a 3D program, but double the height of the original. sculpture or in painting, is based on the attempt to Antonio Pio Saracino’s interpretation of Michelan- signed buildings, monuments and products. His In 2012, for the exhibition Arte torna Arte (Art Returns to Art), a sculpture painted in fibreglass and marble achieve the purest contact possible with what Jung gelo’s David takes on a connotation in Florence work is in museum collections internationally dust with identical dimensions to the original was put on display in the courtyard of the Accademia Gal- called the “primordial collective unconscious”. that I would define as “philological”. Tackling such including the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of lery. The work was by Hans-Peter Feldmann and it was painted by the students of the Academy of Fine Culture is expression and the cultural expression a meaningful paradigm in the city where the sculp- Art and Design in New York City and the Power- Arts in Florence. The students made the David blonde with pink skin creating a decidedly kitsch effect. is the value of humanity. This value represented ture was made and has always lived is tantamount House Museum in . He participated in the Antonio Pio Saracino has sculpted his work from the same pure white Carrara marble that Michelan- by the David goes beyond history and its meaning to both a challenge and an act of generosity. The 54th edition of the Biennale and has won gelo used to make the David. His modern take on the sculpture has not been conceived for a museum is part of our daily life and our collective global challenge comes in the form of the peculiarity of numerous awards among which are two American or an art gallery but for an open public space, similar to the way in which Michelangelo conceived imagination. Saracino’s artistic research, which the artist uses Architecture Awards from the Museum of his own work to be seen. The incom- Renato Miracco to focus upon and analyze some of his more for- Architecture and a Best of the Year Award from In- parable beauty of Michelangelo’s Cultural Attaché, Embassy of Italy Washington DC mal ideals through a respectful and tangible com- terior Design magazine. He was named one of the sculpture has been transposed with parison with a masterpiece. Attempting to bring world’s 25 most interesting trendsetters by ART- a modern approach in an intelligent the David’s classical nature into the present is news magazine and recognized as one of the Top and original way through a captivat- GEM (Global Emerging Markets) is very proud to an act of generosity because it means the artist Ten Italian Architects under 36 by the New Italian ing decomposition of mass on par- be involved with this wonderful art project that firmly believes in the power of contemporary art Blood Award. Saracino has exhibited his design allel planes of varying heights. It is unites the timeless qualities of one of the great and wants to transmit this belief to others. work with Industry Gallery in Washington DC, quite easy to identify the sculpture works of art in Western civilization (Michelange- and Dubai, as well as other galleries with the David, especially as regards Matteo Innocenti lo’s David) with a brilliant modern sculpture that and museums internationally. the contours and the unmistakable Curator and Scientific Director Pmg Italia echoes the finest traditions of Italian craftsman- His work has been reviewed internationally in pose, in spite of the astonishing frag- ship and blends them with a more contemporary publications such as , Ar- mentation of the shape compared to artistic vision. GEM considers it an honor to have chitectural Digest, Interior Design, Wallpaper*. the unvarying classic equilibrium worked with Antonio Pio Saracino, the Italian Em- Pmg Italia has promoted and supported Hero for Vogue named Saracino “among the most prolific that renders Michelangelo’s original bassy in Washington DC, the Accademia Gallery Florence due to our great capacity to project our Italian designers abroad.” Among Saracino’s re- vision sublime. The fragmentation and the Curators of this amazing art collection minds towards a sphere that does not forget the cent and past public projects are GATE 150 on instantly evokes the incessant vola- that surrounds this unique venue. excellence of our past. We believe that contempo- the occasion of the150th anniversary of the unifi- tility and instability of these times. rary art can connect with traditional paradigms and cation of Italy for the Caraffa Museum in Cordoba We sincerely hope that Hero, through Peter de Svastich open our minds to new impressions, just as Sara- Argentina and the MuBE Museum in , our modern eyes, can show us the Managing Director GEM GROUP cino has demonstrated through his extraordinary ; in 2007 as winner of Brussel’s Agorafolly values of liberty, justice and civic reinterpretation of Michelangelo’s masterpiece. competition, a public installation to celebrate the pride that Buonarroti’s David embod- 50th anniversary of the European Union. In 2013, Anna Santucci ied for Florentines at the height of the in New York, Saracino designed The Guardians: Managing Director Pmg Italia Renaissance. Hero and Superhero, two 13-foot-tall sculptures, The Accademia Gallery in Florence immagine HERO one in marble, the other in stainless steel, which and the Italian Embassy in Washing- sit at the entrance to Midtown ’s ton are delighted to present Antonio New York provvisoria Bryant Park and will remain on view indefinitely. Pio Saracino’s work, which can be In 2015 he was invited to design with Steve Blatz defined as one of the most intelli- the Black Hole a pavilion for design week gent, and in terms of workmanship, in the courtyard of the Università degli Studi di one of the most outstanding modern Milano. Antonio Pio Saracino re-interpretations of a great icon of In 2003, Saracino graduated cum laude with a Hero, 2013 Western culture. Master’s Degree in Architecture at the Università 4 mt (height) x 1.2 x 0.85 mt Angelo Tartuferi La Sapienza in , where he worked as assis- Three Bryant Park, New York, NY Director of the Accademia Gallery tant professor of architectural design.