La lunga arte
Francesco Leonetti e Arnaldo Pomodoro
curated by Bitta Leonetti, Federica Giani and Aurora Donzelli
September 20 - October 30, 2024
HORTI (Spazio extra Art) – Almo Collegio Borromeo, Pavia
Tavola rotonda sui temi della mostra
Introduced and coordinated by Clelia Martignoni, with contributions from: Paolo Campiglio, Aurora Donzelli, Federico Giani, and Giorgio Zanchetti.
October 3, 2024 - at 5:30 PM
Sala Bianca – Almo Collegio Borromeo, Piazza Collegio Borromeo 9, Pavia
The Arnaldo Pomodoro Foundation has decided to promote some of the initiatives taking place in 2024 to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Francesco Leonetti (Cosenza 1924 – Milan 2017), including an exhibition dedicated to the relationship between Leonetti and Pomodoro, which will be held between September and October at the Almo Collegio Borromeo in Pavia. Two years after the inauguration of the Horti, this new initiative further strengthens the collaboration between the Foundation and the Collegio Borromeo, in the name of culture, art, and literature.
Francesco Leonetti and Arnaldo Pomodoro met in Milano in 1963. Leonetti had just moved from Bologna at the invitation of Elio Vittorini to create "Gulliver", an international magazine that would have involved figures such as Italo Calvino and Roland Barthes. The project never came to fruition, but in the meantime, a job at Garzanti allowed him to start putting down roots in the city. At the same time, Pomodoro was creating, that same year, his first Sphere, and won the “International Sculpture Prize” at the 7th São Paulo Art Biennial in Brazil, which would serve as a springboard for him onto the international art scene.
Pomodoro and Leonetti are almost the same age and are engaged in an expressive research that is similar in many ways, in which what counts is the polyphony of languages and the experimentalism based on the dialectical relationship between continuity with the past and innovative break. The two immediately formed a deep friendship, a partnership that would not stop until Leonetti's death in 2017.
Through the works and documents on display, the exhibition will tell the story of this friendship and this intellectual exchange that lasted over fifty years, through the many opportunities for collaboration, exchange and mutual enrichment between Pomodoro and Leonetti.
In occasion of the exhibition, il 3 ottobre alle ore 17:30 (Sala Bianca del Collegio Borromeo) l’Almo Collegio Borromeo, Horti e Fondazione organizzano una tavola rotonda per analizzare, attraverso il contributo di studiosi di arte e di letteratura, le ragioni del sodalizio tra Francesco Leonetti e Arnaldo Pomodoro e per discutere sull’interazione tra scrittura e linguaggio plastico che ha caratterizzato la ricerca dei due autori.
Full ticket €8 / Reduced ticket €5 / Free entry for under 26s, teachers, members of the Foundation, Peggy Guggenheim Collection members, and ICOM members.
Info and how to access the exhibition
Opening: September 19, at 6:30 PM
When: September 20 - October 30, 2024
Where: HORTI (Spazio extra Art) – Almo Collegio Borromeo, Lungo Ticino Sforza 46, Pavia
Round table
When: October 3, 2024 - at 5:30 PM
Where: Sala Bianca – Almo Collegio Borromeo (Piazza Collegio Borromeo 9, Pavia)
Under the patronage of
