Gemito - Museum of Villa Pignatelli

From 29th March at Villa Pignatelli, in Naples, will be presented an exhibition dedicated to Vincenzo Gemito, one of the protagonists of the European sculpture in the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries, active in Naples from 1868 to 1925, the year of his death.

Over two hundred artworks will be exhibited: from the early works in terracotta, of prodigious precocity, to the superb bronzes of the maturity; furthermore will be presented about eighty of the most significant drawings of the artist, made in ink, pencil, charcoal, sepia, watercolour. The artworks come from public and private collections, Italian and foreign.

The expositions dedicated to Gemito have been very rare: worthy of note the exhibition of 1953 at Palazzo Reale of Naples, and the selection presented at Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto in 1989.

Presenting a wide and well-constructed exhibition of Gemito, at a distance of years, is an unique occasion to rediscover and introduce a great exponent of the arts and cultures in Naples in the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries, documenting also less known aspects of his art, such as the little sculptures chiselled with precious metals with obsessive precision in accordance with scientific methods of great modernity, but at the same time heirs of a long and fortunate local tradition, which goes back to Hellenistic-Roman age.

In the exhibition at Villa Pignatelli will be exhibited also a wide selection of sculptures and drawings belonged to the famous collection of Achille Minozzi, and created with passion and ability by Gemito and Minozzi, that were in close relationship, in the end of 19th-beginning of 20th centuries.

The arrangement of the artworks, according to chronological and typological criteria, permits a journey which documents the whole artistic itinerary of Gemito, highlighting, among others, affinities and diversities that characterize his plastic and graphic work.

The exhibition, placed under the High Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic, is organized by Special Superintendence for the Historical, Artistic and Ethno-anthropological Patrimony and for Museum Pole of the city of Naples and promoted by Regione Campania/Assessorship for the Arts and the Tourism - project Co-financed with the funds P.O. FESR CAMPANIA 2007-2013 Obiettivo OPERATIVO 1.9 - and by Province of Naples/Assessorship for the Arts.