Magazzino: A Mecca Of Italian Art And Culture In The Hudson Valley
The opening of its latest exhibition, Maria Lai. A Journey to America, further cements Magazzino Italian Art Museum's role as a center for postwar and contemporary Italian art. Located in the bucolic village of Philipstown in Cold Spring, New York, it is the sole museum in America devoted entirely to this genre.
The new exhibition, curated by the museum's talented artistic director, Paola Mura, is the first retrospective of Maria Lai's art in the U.S. It includes more than 100 works, some that have never been shown before, representing the artist's work from the 1950s until her death in 2013.
The works in this impressive retrospective were amassed from private collectors (including Magazzino museum co-founders Nancy Olnick and Giorgio Spanu) as well as many Italian art institutions and museums.
Maria Lai, The ArtistBorn and raised in Ulassai, Sardinia, Maria Lai is considered one of the most important Italian artists of the 20th century. Her works represent a blend of her native Sardinian traditions, the sensitivities and techniques of Arte Povera (a radical Italian art movement in the 60s and 70s), and the influences of contemporary American culture.
The artist "drew" by sewing even before she could write in words and grew up when women were expected to conform to stereotypical female roles. But Lai resisted. She used bold strokes and took advantage of the meager materials around her, even creating charcoal drawings on the walls of the home she shared with her aunt and uncle.
During World War II, Lai immersed herself in the art scenes of Rome and Venice. She encountered Arte Povera artists through her studies there, but her artistic roots remained firmly planted in her homeland. She also spent considerable time in New York and Montreal, where American artists and writers influenced her creative endeavors and interest in the human condition and social bonds.
Landscapes and animals inspired her representational art before she moved to more abstract pieces, combining Sardinian traditions with the principles of Arte Povera. In later years, she experimented with materials like fabric, stone, wood, and bread, incorporating elements of everyday life.
An extraordinarily humble woman, Lai often stated she didn't know if she was an artist, claiming she had always sought and played with art. Curator Mura describes the novelty and freshness of Lai's work as akin to that of an eternal child who never grew up.
The Maria Lai. A Journey to America ExhibitMagazzino Italian Art is the perfect setting for this singular multidisciplinary exhibition.
The artist's engaging works cover three light-filled galleries. The first includes a wall dedicated to a decade-by-decade timeline called Journey to America that tracks the artist's life experiences and sources of inspiration.
The collection includes a mix of oils, watercolors, textured canvases of oil, straw, and cork, stitched canvases with threads in geometric designs, sewn books without words, and textiles, weavings, and looms that evoke the artist's Sardinian upbringing.
One of Maria Lai's most captivating and significant projects, Legarsi alla montagna (Binding to the Mountain), is captured in a film that runs continuously in one gallery.
In 1981, Lai involved the inhabitants of her native Ulassai, using 16 miles of blue denim ribbon to connect homes and buildings in the village to the rugged Ogliastra mountain. The ribbons between homes were suggestive of different relationships: Family members were connected by loaves of bread wrapped in ribbon, friends were connected with knots, and there was nothing connecting people with grievances.
"Just as Maria Lai bridged places and cultures in her art, and her most celebrated initiative literally tied a village together to unite its people, Magazzino creates a singular place where visitors may encounter the greatest art from post-war Italy," remarked museum director Adam Sheffer in a press release announcing the show.
Experience Italian Food and Culture at MagazzinoA visit to Magazzino Italian Art Museum may be the next best thing to a trip to Italy for anyone who wants to immerse themselves in a day of Italian art and culture closer to home.
The non-profit museum welcomes visitors from around the world. Its two spacious, architecturally stunning buildings include a renovated dairy warehouse (magazzino, in Italian) and a new contemporary building designed by Spanish architect Miguel Quismondo and his mentor, award-winning architect Alberto Campo Baeza, where the Maria Lai exhibit is housed.
The museum's permanent collection includes arte povera and contemporary works by Giovanni Anselmo, Alighiero Boetti, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Luciano Fabro, Jannis Kounellis, Mario Merz, Marisa Merz, Giulio Paolini, Pino Pascali, Giuseppe Penone, Michelangelo Pistoletto, and Gilberto Zorio.
Not to be missed during a visit is a stop at the trattoria-style museum restaurant, Cafe Silvia. Born and raised in northern Italy, near Milan, Chef Luca Galli brings a taste of Italian food, wine, and culture to Magazzino with a farm-to-table menu that varies with the seasons.
Food products are sourced locally, some from the chef's herb and vegetable garden outside the glass dining room doors. Open from 11 AM to 6 PM, the morning menu features Italian specialty coffees and pastries, transitioning to light fare that is beautifully prepared, plated, and served later in the day.
Cafe Silvia also houses a thoughtfully curated gift shop with Italian art, books, food, and other products.
IF YOU GOLocated in Putnam County, the Magazzino Italian Art museum is about 1.5 hours from New York City by car. The museum is open Friday through Monday from 10 AM to 6 PM. Admission is $20 for adults and $5 for children ages 5 to 12.
Museum members receive discounts on tickets, free shuttle service between the museum and the Metro North train station in Cold Spring, other perks, and the opportunity to support the continued growth of Italian art and culture.
Be sure to check the Magazzino website for more information and to confirm opening hours.
LEARN MOREAbout the architecture and architect of Magazzino
