ACROSS ART AND FASHION

edited by Stefania Ricci ACROSS Exhibition project at several Layout design Opera Laboratori Fiorentini Catalogue ART AND FASHION venues curated by Silvia Cilembrini S.p.a. – Civita Group, Mandragora S.r.l. Stefania Ricci Fabio Leoncini (Simona Fulceri) Edited by Tela di Penelope, Laboratorio Promoted and organized by Layout Stefania Ricci di Restauro e Conservazione Fondazione Ferragamo Opera Laboratori Fiorentini Tessile, Prato (Simona Catalogue coordination Museo Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.a. – Civita Group Laurini, Azelia Luigia Ludovica Barabino In collaboration with Coordination of the Lombardi, Elisa Zonta) Martina Cocchi organizational office Francesca Piani Biblioteca Nazionale Shipping Paola Gusella Maria Rosa Ventimiglia Centrale, Florence Arterìa S.r.l., Florence Francesca Piani Gallerie degli Uffizi, Galleria Ferrari Group S.p.a., Editor d’arte moderna e Galleria Organizational office Florence Marco Salucci (Mandragora) del Costume di Palazzo Pitti, Serena Ademio Fratini Bruno, Prato Editing Florence Ludovica Barabino Insurance Giuliana Guidi Museo Marino Marini, Vittoria Cirulli AON S.p.a. Insurance & Florence Martina Cocchi Translation Reinsurance Broker, Florence Museo del Tessuto, Prato Chiara Fucci Catherine Bolton, Axa Art Catani Gagliani and Gregorio Gabellieri with Amber Cassese S.n.c., Florence Ministero dei Beni e delle Maria Rosa Ventimiglia and Michelle Schoenung Desmos S.p.a. Insurance Attività Culturali e del Turismo Restoration Broker, Rome Graphic project Soprintendenza Belle Arti e Centro di Restauro-Zanolini Willis Towers Watson Studio Contri Toscano Paesaggio per le Province di Paola, (Ida Ravenna) Firenze, Pistoia e Prato Photographs Deltos S.r.l.s., Conservazione Technical sponsors Arrigo Coppitz With the contribution of e Restauro Opere d’Arte su AON S.p.a. Insurance & Centro di Firenze per la Moda Carta, Florence (Simonetta Reinsurance Broker, Florence Italiana Rosatelli) A.V. Tech S.r.l. LabOratorio degli Angeli Bonaveri Unipersonale S.r.l. With the patronage of S.r.l., Bologna Desmos S.p.a. Insurance Ministero dei Beni e delle Letizia Nesi Broker, Rome Attività Culturali e del Turismo L’Officina del Restauro S.r.l., Epson / For.Tex Regione Toscana Florence (Lucia e Andra Dori) Comune di Firenze

Ministero Soprintendenza dei beni e delle Belle Arti e Paesaggio attività culturali per le Province di e del turismo Firenze, Pistoia e Prato Across Art and Fashion Italian Periodicals of the Collaborations Museo Salvatore Ferragamo 20th Century Museo Marino Marini Florence Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Florence Palazzo Spini Feroni Florence 19 May 2016 19 May 2016 20 May 2016 31 July 2016 7 April 2017 15 October 2016 Edited by Edited by Edited by Stefania Ricci Maria Luisa Frisa Stefania Ricci with the collaboration of Enrica Morini Luca Scarlini Alberto Salvadori Stefania Ricci with the collaboration of Organizational office Alberto Salvadori Anna Nicolò Chiara Fucci Francesca Piani Video installations Carolina Gestri THE moodboard… A Organizational office Paola Gusella MAGAZINE CURATED BY…, Martina Cocchi Gabriella Sorelli 2016, concept Alberto Roberta Masini Salvadori based on A Nostalgia for the Future in MAGAZINE CURATED BY; The Fashionable Post-war Artistic Fabrics art direction and execution 19th Century Museo del Tessuto Karmachina (Vinicio Bordin, Gallerie degli Uffizi, Galleria Prato Paolo Ranieri, Rino Stefano d’arte moderna di Palazzo 21 May 2016 Tagliafierro); editing and Pitti, Sala del Fiorino 19 February 2017 compositing Elisa Serravalli Florence Edited by and Karmachina; sound 19 May 2016 Daniela Degl’Innocenti design Alberto Modignani; 24 July 2016 Filippo Guarini multimedia service A.V. Tech. Edited by Stefania Ricci Riflessi, 2016, concept Stefania Ricci Stefania Ricci; art direction with the collaboration of Organizational office and execution Karmachina Caterina Chiarelli Chiara Fucci (Vinicio Bordin, Paolo Ranieri, Simonella Condemi Chiara Lastrucci Rino Stefano Tagliafierro); Arianna Sarti Organizational office editing and compositing Paola Gusella Karmachina and Raffaele Cinzia Nenci Amici; sound design Alberto Katia Sanchioni Modignani; lights Watt Susanna Sordi Studio; multimedia service A.V. Tech.

Shop window artwork Riccardo Benassi This exhibition project would not be The Kyoto Costume Institute, Kyoto Fondazione Massimo e Sonia Cirulli, Sonia Dingilian, Clarissa Esguerra, Mauro Volpini, Margreet Wafelbakker, possible without the unconditional The Museum at Fashion Institute of Bologna Fuat Esrefoglu, Sjarel Ex, Viola Peter Wise, Kozue Yanagida, support of Ferragamo family. Technology, New York Fondazione Gianfranco Ferré, Milan Fantoni, Michela Ferrero, Miyatake Yutaka, Semir Zeki, Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, Marco Ferri, Stefano Fiordi, Andrea Ziegenbruch. The curators of the exhibitions and Archivio Bice Lazzari, Rome Museo Fortuny, Venice Monica Fiorini, Olivier Flaviano, of the catalogue would like to thank: Archivio Ditta Pugi R.G., Prato Fondazione Pitti Immagine, Florence Roberta Fontana, Chiara Francini, The private collectors who wish to Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Archivio Fondazione Roberto The Miyake Issey Foundation, Tokyo Stefano Frasconi, Sara Fravezzi, preserve their anonymity. Culturali e del Turismo Capucci, Rome Simone Frosecchi, Orlando Fusi, The architects and the authors Soprintendenza Belle Arti e Archivio Germana Marucelli, Milan Blain|Southern Art Gallery, Olivier Gabet, Roberto Gaggioli, of video installations for doing an Paesaggio per le Province di Firenze, Archivi di Ricerca Mazzini, Massa London - Berlin Valentina Galbiati, Gaetano excellent job and for the passion they Pistoia Lombarda (Ravenna) Hussein Chalayan, London Giacomelli, Piera Giorgi, Donatier have demonstrated. e Prato Archivio Storico dell’Istituto Luce, Judith Clark Studio, London Grau, Massimo Gravagno, Marco The artists who have participated, Regione Toscana Cinecittà S.r.l., Rome Galerist, Istanbul Graziano, Micaela Hamoud Nick Cave, Wenda Gu and Yinka Comune di Firenze Archivio Storico della Fondazione Galleria Massimo De Carlo, Milan, Sambucco, Nina Hartmann, Aldo Shonibare, and in particular those Micol Fontana, Rome London, Hong Kong Innocenti, Tomoko Ishida, Stella who have created a new artwork for The Fondazione Ferragamo and Archivio THAYAHT & RAM, Florence Galleria Fumagalli, Milan Jensen, Hannah Kauffman, Danique the occasion, Stephen Jones and the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo Associazione Culturale Museo Casa Galleria Studio la Città, Verona Klijs, Paolo La Morgia, Donatella Han Yajuan. sponsors and organizers of the Mollino, Turin Galleria Tornabuoni Arte, Florence Lapadula, Nancy Leeman, Nora Riccardo Benassi for the realization exhibition project Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin, Berlin Makos Studio, New York Leijen, Lisa Leonessi, Giovanni of the artistic installation for Salvatore with La Biennale di Venezia, Archivio Studio Wenda Gu, Shanghai Lista, Piero Longo, Linda Loppa, Ferragamo’s shop windows. The museums and the institutions Storico delle Arti Contemporanee, Viktor & Rolf, Amsterdam Annamaria Maggi, Antonella that have collabored on the project: Venice Yohji Yamamoto Inc., Tokyo Maggiorelli, Christopher Makos, Special thanks go to the Fondazione Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Sophie Malville, Susanna Sara Massimo e Sonia Cirulli that, thanks Florence Renzo Arbore Collection, Rome Special thanks go to: Mandice, Matteo Mannucci, Paola to its loans, has permitted exhibitions Gallerie degli Uffizi, Galleria d’arte Emanuela Barilla Collection, Parma Erin Adair, Ivan Aiazzi, Silvia Marabelli, Anna Martini, Mara Martini, at the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale moderna and Galleria del Costume di Branchini-Grampa Collection, Alessandri, Serena Angelini Antonio Masciariello, Roberta Masini, in Florence, the Museo del Tessuto Palazzo Pitti, Florence Busto Arsizio (Varese) Parravicini, Angiolo Anichini, Alejandro May, Attilio Mazzini, in Prato and the Museo Salvatore Museo Marino Marini, Florence Cardazzo Collection, Venice Giuseppe Anichini, Patrizia Asproni, Riccardo Michahelles, Siân Millar, Ferragamo. Museo del Tessuto, Prato CLM/Seeber Collection, Rome Alessandro Attolico, Giancarlo Enrico Minio, Simone Monticelli, Valentina Cortese Collection, Milan Baccoli, Maria Balshaw, Luca Massimo Morasso, Philippe Heartfelt thanks to Dirk van den Biblioteca Comunale Centrale Enrico Coveri Collection, Florence Massimo Barbero, Diana Barbetta, Mugnier, Rie Nii, Consuelo Nocita, Eynden for the contribution to Sormani, Milan Maria Luisa Frisa Collection, Venice Elisabetta Basilici Menini, Claudia Mariagrazia Oliva, Masako Omori, creating the room From Atelier to Centre Pompidou - Mnam CcI Luciana Giuntoli Gentilini Collection, Beldon, Luca Bellingeri, Roberto Chiara Onniboni, Giuliana Parabiago, Mood Board, one of sections of the Bibliothèque Kandinsky, Rome Bertoli, Giorgina Bertolino, Elena Silvia Parrini, Raffaela Pedani, Anton exhibition at the Museo Salvatore Deutsche Kinemathek, Museum Gori Collection, Pistoia Bonanno di Linguaglossa, Simon Perich, Luisa Perlo, Marco Pesciullesi, Ferragamo. für Film und Fernsehen, Berlin Paolo e Serena Gori Collection, Prato Braithwaite, Laura Brazzini, Federica Giuseppina Petroccia, Carlo Special thanks to the authors, to Fashion Museum Hasselt, Hasselt Federico Luger Collection, Milan Brivio, Andrea Brugnoni, Marco Picchietti, Carla Pinzauti, Silvia Casagrande for the scientific La Triennale di Milano, Milan Madeinart Collection, Milan Brusamolin, Laura Buonocore, Gianni Piolanti, Giuseppe Poeta, contribution to the section on Manchester City Galleries, Ugo Nespolo Collection, Turin Sylvano Bussotti, Elena Calabresi, Mauro Pratesi, Lucia Projetto, Germana Marucelli and to Gianni Manchester Giuseppe Paccagnini Collection, Sara Calciolari, Gian Carlo Calza Rocco Quagli, Michela Ratti, Monica Mercurio for the one on Andy Warhol. MAK - Austrian Museum of Applied Montecatini (Pistoia) Marucelli, Letizia Campana, Rech, Elsa Riccadonna, Marta Arts, Vienna G. Pugi Collection, Prato Valentina Cappa, Angelica Cardazzo, Rinaldo, Sandro Ristori, Stefano Thanks to Centro di Firenze per la MoMu - Fashion Museum of the Enrico Quinto e Paolo Tinarelli Simona Carlesi, Roberto Casamonti, Romei, Luigino Rossi, Martin Roth, Moda Italiana for its contribution. Province of Antwerp, Antwerp Collection, Rome Paola Castignanò, Juri Cavallini, Timothy Rub, Anna Maria Ruta, Irene Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris Franca e Cosima Scheggi Collection, Andrea Cavicchi, Michele Cecchini, Saladino, Stefano Salvatici, Massimo Thanks also to the technical Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Milan Germano Celant, Giulia Ciappi, Sanzani, Salvatore Satta, Alberto sponsors: Rotterdam Beatrice Cifuentes-Sarmiento, Scaccioni, Eike Dieter Schmidt, Luigi AON S.p.a. Insurance & Reinsurance National Portrait Gallery, London Fondazione Arte della Seta Lisio, Sofia Ciucchi, Cristina Collu, Laura Settembrini, Carla Sozzani, Riccardo Broker, Florence Philadelphia Museum of Art, Florence Corazzol, Marialisa Cornacchia, Spinelli, Valerie Steele, Marlijn Swan, A.V. Tech S.r.l. Philadelphia Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Gianluca Corradi, Marzia Corraini, Madame Berthoud Tigretti, Nicola Bonaveri Unipersonale S.r.l. Victoria and Albert Museum, London Laurent, Paris Silvana Coveri, Alessandro Curotti, Torpei, Laura Trambusti, Danilo Desmos S.p.a. Insurance Broker, Hull Museums, Hull Fondazione Biagiotti Cigna, Rome Hélène de Franchis, Alessandro Della Venturi, Barbara Vernocchi, Salvatore Rome Takamatsu Art Museum, Takamatsu Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice Casa, Eve Demoen, Sara de Tullio, Vicario, Giuseppe Viesti, Mara Vitali, Epson / For.Tex Table of contents

9 153 233 336 STEFANIA RICCI DANIELA DEGL’INNOCENTI GIANNI MERCURIO STEFANIA RICCI Introduction Common Ground. Andy Warhol, Every quote is a note, Art, Fashion, and Textile Communication Strategies please reply 17 Design in SUZY MENKES from 1900 to 1960 238 343 Art at the Heart of Fashion ANNA NICOLÒ Summary of the works 162 Research Itineraries on display 21 SILVIA CASAGRANDE between Art and Fashion ENRICA MORINI Germana Marucelli. through the Periodicals Art and Fashion: Rare Interpreter of Poetry of the Biblioteca Nazionale the Origins of the Modern Centrale di Firenze Dialogue 167 NANCY J. TROY 243 35 Mondrian and the LUCA SCARLINI DEMETRIO PAPARONI Mondrian Dress Monthly Ecstasy: The Art Collections the Links between Art and of Designers 177 Fashion in 20th-Century Past and Present Plates Italian Magazines

41 253 CARLO SISI GABRIELE MONTI The Fashionable Carnival 19th Century 258 49 ALBERTO SALVADORI ELISA MASIERO From the Atelier Beauty, Harmony and to the Mood Board Technique in Rosa Genoni’s ‘Italian’ Fashion 263 MARIA LUISA FRISA 57 Role-playing CASIMIRO DI CRESCENZO Alberto Giacometti and Elsa 273 Schiaparelli: an Inevitable Plates Encounter in the Parisian Milieu of the 1930s

63 STEFANIA RICCI The Case of Ferragamo

73 Plates Kenneth Noland, Untitled, 1958, acrylic on canvas, 96 × 96 cm. Bergamo, Private collection (courtesy Galleria Fumagalli, Milan). Introduction

Is fashion art? A simple question conceals the complex universe of an articulated relationship with blurred horizons, which has been investigated in thousands of ways without arriving at a definition that is clear and, above all, unequivocal over time. Fashion, with its reference to real life, the need to be functional, and the bond with craftsmanship but also with industry, seems to be far from the ideal of art pour l’art, a concept that never- theless has not been representative of the art world in all eras. Can we still talk about the dichotomy between art and fashion, as was the case during the last century, given that now we find a plethora of exhibitions by fashion designers, such as the one of the Dutch designer Iris van Herpen now making the rounds at numerous art galleries? Designers are more and more open to the practices of contemporary art, and in the post-Warhol era we have become well aware that the ‘uniqueness’ of artwork no longer meshes with artistic production. “The dialogue between art and clothing is almost as old as the human race”, writes Enrica Morini in the opening lines of her essay, and it has always underpinned multiple and complex forms of relationship that range from mutual attraction to collaboration, involving economic issues and work methods, drawing on common sources of inspiration, and defining themselves in the way of relating to the public, spectacularity, and the crea- tion of celebrities and their cult. To understand how far back the roots of this relationship go, we need merely cite the example of Agnolo Bronzino, who was commissioned by Cosimo I de’ Medici to paint the portrait of his wife Eleonora of Toledo. The grand duke gave him a piece of pile-on-pile velvet, which he used to create the duchess’ gown. This dress does not actually exist, but it becomes real thanks to the ability of the artist who, in a period without photographs or trade journals, helped promote the communication and thus marketing of a fabric that was the pride of Florentine craftsmanship, achieving the results his patron wanted: stimulating sales of the local textile production across Europe. For centuries artists carefully depicted the clothing of the figures they portrayed in great detail, creating garments and showing gestures and postures. They often participated actively in the creation of jewellery, fabrics, embroidery and garments, and in some cases they even executed drawings and engravings needed to promote these clothing styles. The system of the medieval and Renaissance workshop was based on involve- ment in the production of every aspect of each decorative form on the part of artists and craftsmen, united by the common denominator of great technical skill. Unquestionably, the reference to this milieu as one of the pos- sible arenas of crossovers and collaboration between art and fashion explains the choice of this subject for the new exhibition project at the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo conceived with the collaboration of the Fondazione Ferragamo. Inspired by the eclectic work of Salvatore Ferragamo and his philosophy, every year the museum stages exhibitions in which, with a historical and interdisciplinary path, it expresses fashion’s interest in the most current and significant trends that, from art to design, spectacle, customs, communication and information, extend their influence to the style and forms of dressing and living.

9 View of Forte Belvedere ‘Il Tempo e la Moda’, in Florence with the curated by Germano installations by Arata Celant, Luigi Settembrini Isozaki created for ‘Arte/ and Ingrid Sischy; the Moda’, one of the seven latter is still considered exhibitions organized seminal among the main by the 1st Florence fashion curators on the 10 Biennale in 1996, entitled contemporary scene. 11 The museum’s new production starts with the story of Salvatore Ferragamo, who was fascinated by the ar- tistic avant-gardes of the 20th century, was inspired by the art world and collaborated with several artists of his day, launching a practice that the Ferragamo brand – like others in the world of fashion – has continued today. It then goes on to analyse the relationship between art and fashion through a series of case histories, with the aim of offering food for thought and potentially a summary of what seems to be a vast and constantly chang- ing panorama. The starting point of the exhibition is the 19th century, when the new social structure, derived from the advent of the bourgeoisie and industrial production, changed the rules of appearance, and fashion ceased to be the privilege of the ruling classes and aristocracy alone. It was during this period, when haute couture arose and department stores made its most democratic forms popular, that the exchange between art and fashion became frequent and multifaceted, continuing throughout the 20th century. Some artists, such as the Pre-Raphaelites, influenced current fashion with their proposals, while others, such as the Futurists, proposed their own fashion; yet others embarked on profitable collaborations with designers, creating outfits that represent the shared search for new forms of expression, as in the case of the duo Paolo Scheggi and Germana Marucelli. Although the art world acknowledges fashion’s ability to speak to everyone and the merit of having made the work of an artist known through its transfer to garments, as in the case of Yves Saint Laurent’s 1965 col- lection inspired by Piet Mondrian, for the most part it is the world of fashion that is fascinated by art and its leading figures, imitating their approaches, drawing on their language (the word ‘atelier’ is derived from the artistic atelier) and continuously taking inspiration from works of art. One example is Rosa Genoni, tailor, histo- rian and fashion teacher, who with the dresses created in 1906 for the Milan International – one dedicated to a drawing by Pisanello and another one to Botticelli’s Primavera – sustained that Renaissance art, the country’s cultural linchpin, was the key ingredient to give an identity to national fashion. It was along the same lines that in the Fifties, in a different context, Giovanni Battista Giorgini, the inventor of , found Florence and its artistic beauties to be the ideal backdrop to give Italy’s production of clothing and accessories a specific connotation and international prominence. Above all in the field of communication, the relationship between art and fashion was fruitful throughout the 20th century, when artists were willing to promote the new styles of the season in magazines and the ear- liest catalogues, and designed enticing shop windows. This aspect is represented here by Andy Warhol, who through his earliest work as an illustrator for American fashion magazines learned the techniques and rules of advertising. Thanks to this training, he tested his project to contaminate art with communication and transform his own name into something that would be both the symbol and logo of the spirit of the time. Today communication is above all about the art of storytelling. The techniques of storytelling are the inspira- tion for the exhibition section examining the topic of the mood board, the element that most clearly explains the values of the potential product, the feeling in terms of fashion and the idea one wants to give the work of art. This very important concept tied to the creative process and execution is shared by fashion and art, and is represent- ed at the exhibition by the construction of an immersive room, created by Karmachina in collaboration with the journal A MAGAZINE CURATED BY. This is a conceptual space that stands for the mood board, its visual, poetic and spiritual references, that offers insight into the creative minds of several of today’s fashion designers. That today’s art can use fashion to mould its critical language is demonstrated by the British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare, who has been asked to present some of his works. With his installations and film trans- positions, he proposes profound reflection on multiculturalism, chiefly by analysing the colonial question. The figures animating his works are mannequins in theatrical and dramatic poses. Clothing becomes an important instrument for the artist’s expressive imagery. His sculptures are dressed in styles taken from 18th- and 19th- century paintings, but the fabrics he uses are batiks that are clearly African in inspiration.

12 The crinolines installed by Gianfranco Ferré in the Medici Chapels in Florence, one of the sections of the ‘Visitors’ exhibition, part of the overall project for the 1st Florence Biennale. 13 Through a thematic and chronological itinerary, the exhibition at the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo ends with a reflection on the relationship between art and fashion from the Nineties to the present, with the awareness that the dualism of these two disciplines – two systems that study each other and sometimes dialogue, but remain separate – that ran through the last century should be overcome today and in the near future. Fashion, like art, questions its own practices. Through the work of figures such as Hussein Chalayan, Martin Margiela, Comme des Garçons, Viktor & Rolf and Nick Cave, this section illustrates that it is increasingly difficult to talk about two separate worlds, to define and close the different experiences, but that it is essential to think in terms of a fluid interplay of roles. The new aspect of this exhibition with respect to previous ones staged by the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo is that it is being held at several venues. This year marks the anniversary of the Florence Biennale, entitled “Il Tempo e la Moda”, which was inaugurated in 1996 to examine the delicate relationship between art and fash- ion. This spectacular event, gargantuan in scope and requiring huge investments, involved the whole city, its museums and its cultural institutions. It was curated by Germano Celant, Ingrid Sischy and Luigi Settembrini. The latter, who at the time was the artistic director of Pitti Immagine, not only considered the event a chance to take an interdisciplinary look at some of the themes of the contemporary experience, but through it he also intended to continue the exhibition programme started a few years earlier when the exhibition at the Palazzo Strozzi on the birth of Italian fashion sought to restore Florence’s position as the centre of the culture of contem- porary fashion. The Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, which was in its first year, had hosted one of the shows, the retrospective of the photographer Bruce Weber, and the Salvatore Ferragamo company was one of the main sponsors of the initiative, viewing the project as an extraordinary driving force to promote the territory and the city’s openness to the cultural debate on contemporaneity. Without presuming to repeat that massive experiment, this year’s exhibition includes other museums, which have actively participated in designing the exhibition itinerary and the themes it examines. In the exten- sive display of clothing and accessories in the collection of the Galleria del Costume di Palazzo Pitti, we find the dress designed by Rosa Genoni inspired by Botticelli’s Primavera, which is closely tied to the mantle taken in Pisanello’s drawing at the Musée Condé, shown in the rooms of the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo. Alongside this work there are also a few embroidery samples made by Genoni or used for the garments she created, which were donated to the Galleria several years ago by the designer’s heirs. The Galleria del Costume has also collaborated with the Galleria d’arte moderna to stage an exhibition in the Sala del Fiorino – also at the Palazzo Pitti – on the subject of art and fashion in the 19th century, when artists used fashion as one of the signs of the new modernity. Since the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze boasts one of the richest collections of periodicals in Italy, the library is examining the connection between art and fashion in 20th-century Italian magazines. The intersection between the production of clothes or accessories and aesthetic research was rich and surpris- ing throughout the century, involving not only publications on elegance, but also the pages on design and the applied arts, as well as those on customs. Periodicals reflect many aspects of this relationship, from artists who became magazine illustrators to debates regarding the fashion promoted by artists, the revitalization of craftsmanship by getting art involved, and the increasing overlaps and exchanges between the two worlds. In the 20th century, art, fashion and textile design became shared territories that fed each other ideas and languages expressed through the new materials offered by the industry or tested at ateliers. The period follow- ing the Second World War is especially interesting, as the need for reconstruction, the reorganization of Italian industry and the felicitous convergence of the arts generated fascinating opportunities for dialogue between art, fashion and design. This is the theme examined in the rooms of the Museo del Tessuto in Prato. The Triennale exhibitions of the Fifties, from the 9th to the 11th, were important testing grounds for artists

14 and designers such as Lucio Fontana, Bruno Munari and Piero Dorazio, who participated in the competitions set up by textile companies, presenting their proposals – designed for fabric prints – interpreted in colour vari- ations and intended for clothing and the interior design of the modern house. Cultural operations and initia- tives such as that of Carlo Cardazzo in the Galleria del Cavallino in Venice, with the creation of artist’s scarves – artwork to wear – and tapestries – artwork for the home – document the concept of aesthetics applied to everyday life. This exhibition features scarves by the artists present in the gallery, textile works that give us an idea of the Total Art of the period. Amidst sculptures by Marino Marini, the museum named after the artistis hosting works made between 1960 and today, that are the outcome of the collaboration between the Salvatore Ferragamo company and the art world, along with products designed by artists for special events and themed exhibitions. The section testifies that the relationship between fashion, luxury brands and contemporary art has become closer and more stimulating. A significant part of the overall project is represented by 11 display cases in the Ferragamo shop, which on the occasion of the inauguration are set up at the Palazzo Spini Feroni, the headquarters of Salvatore Ferragamo and of the museum; they are the work of a young Italian artist, Riccardo Benassi, commissioned for the occasion. Benassi’s project proposes aesthetic unity among the display cases, as if they were a narrative facing the street and requiring the presence of passers-by in order to exist. Each space holds a visual poem inspired by the words of a well-known designer or famous artist on the subject to highlight the fundamental el- ement of the dialogue between art and fashion, but also – thinking about Ferragamo – of the dialogue between craftsmanship and philosophy of life. The contribution of the Fondazione Ferragamo has been fundamental. The foundation was established in 2013 to spread the values of craftsmanship, art and culture that were so important to Salvatore Ferragamo and, with this project, it has fully confirmed these aims. Lastly, a few words to explain the image chosen for the exhibition. It is a tribute to the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo that curated and conceived of the project and a symbol: on the one hand, a decorative element essential to the aesthetics of one of Salvatore Ferragamo’s models from 1958, the Tirassegno pump, and on the other a work by one of the great American artists of the second half of the 20th century, Kenneth Noland, whose paintings from this period were a source of inspiration for Ferragamo. The organized exhibitions have involved numerous people. In addition to me, as director of the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo and of the Fondazione Ferragamo, the other exhibition curators of the principal exhibition at Museo Salvatore Ferragamo are Enrica Morini, Maria Luisa Frisa and Alberto Salvadori. Bringing in their var- ied areas of expertise and personalities, they worked day after day on the construction of this itinerary, along with the directors and staff of the different institutions that are participating in this initiative with great enthusi- asm and spirit of collaboration and that worked with the authors of the catalogue, who helped the curators in the final choice of works, offering their knowledge and professional experience. There are numerous loans from the most prestigious public and private collections, both in Italy and around the world, giving to the exhibitions a global ambition. I am grateful to everyone for their interest and collabora- tion. Special thanks go to the participating artists, Riccardo Benassi, Nick Cave, Wenda Gu, Yinka Shonibare, Han Yajuan and Dirk van den Eynden, director of A MAGAZINE CURATED BY, who has kindly granted us the images needed to reconstruct the magical world of designers.

I cannot even begin to thank the Ferragamo family and the Salvatore Ferragamo company for believing in this idea and supporting it. I am very grateful to the team at the Fondazione Ferragamo and the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, made up of young art historians, who assisted the curators, doing their best to respond fully to their requests and creating an outstanding organizational structure.

Stefania Ricci director of the Fondazione Ferragamo and the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo

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