edited by Mario Franco e Daniela Ricci
26 June - 28 September 2008
Inauguration on 25th of June 2008 h. 18.00
After about twenty years from Paolo Ricci's death, the exhibition documents the work and the numerous interests of an artist and intellectual who has represented an important benchmark for the reality of Naples since the 30's.
From painting to scenography, from photography to theatre, Paolo Ricci doesn't limit himself to make art, but, being an artist-critic or a critic artist he has never split the theory from art, dealing with theatre, cinema, folklore and song. His theoretic reflection has come true, moreover, in an intense non-fiction production and in a constant journalistic engagement.
The exhibition, edited by Mario Franco and Daniela Ricci, is promoted by the Region Campania and by the Assessorato alla Cultura del Comune di Napoli and is organized by Civita association.
About 90 works exhibited in chronological order, starting from the 20's until the end of 70's, document Paolo Ricci's work showing the painting indicating the different stages of his search: from the participation in the vanguard movements to the most accentuated expressionism of the portraits, until the neorealist period of postwar and that hyper-realistic and neometaphysical among the 60's and the 70's.
To the pictorial journey will come alongside the documentation of his scenographic and photographic experience: scenographic sketchs carried out for Raffaele Viviani and for the San Carlo Theatre of Naples; his photographic production testifies his relations with artists and literary men of all over the world: from Max Ernst to Pablo Neruda, From Nazim Hikmet to Eduardo De Filippo, from Paul Eluard to Joris Ivens, Stephen Hermlin, Nicolas Guillen, often photographed such as guests in his study of Villa Lucia.
By the side of the exhibition, is foreseen also the organization of a meeting of reflection about the experience of southern artist and intellectual in the historical context of 1900, with the aim to investigate the aspects of his many interests: art, theatrical and cinematographic criticism; activities as scholar of folklore and Neapolitan folkloristic world, as well as deep expert in genesis and evolution of the Camorra, anticipating, in the 50's, a modern sociological view of the phenomenon.
The catalogue, published by Electa, gathers the greatest critical contributions that Paolo Ricci wrote in his pluriennial activity.