Franco Albini and Caterina Marcenaro's Aerial Museum Displays Revisited
An essay by Graham Ellard and Stephen Johnstone in Afterall (published 11 Feb 2019) examines Franco Albini and Caterina Marcenaro's radical post-war museum displays in Genoa, focusing on the hydraulic piston for Giovanni Pisano's Fragment from the Tomb of Margaret of Brabant (1313) at Palazzo Bianco. The device, now rusted and stored at Museo di Sant'Agostino, allowed viewers to raise and spin the marble fragment. Marcenaro's 1954 UNESCO essay defended the mobile display, arguing that detaching art from historical context enhances contact. The essay traces the influence of Albini's 'aerial sensibility' through critics like Manfredo Tafuri, Gio Ponti, and Michael Brawne, and notes recent interest from artists and scholars. A 2014 reconstruction by Marco Ferreri at Triennale Design Museum in Milan failed to capture the original's atmosphere. The authors describe their own experience handling the still-functional moving picture supports at Palazzo Rosso.
Key facts
- Essay published 11 Feb 2019 in Afterall
- Written by Graham Ellard and Stephen Johnstone
- Focuses on Franco Albini and Caterina Marcenaro's museum displays in Genoa
- Hydraulic piston for Giovanni Pisano's Fragment from the Tomb of Margaret of Brabant (1313)
- Device allowed viewers to raise and spin the sculpture
- Now rusted and stored at Museo di Sant'Agostino
- Marcenaro published a defense in UNESCO journal Museum in 1954
- Marco Ferreri reconstructed the device at Triennale Design Museum, Milan in 2014
- Michael Brawne's 1965 book Neue Museen featured the device
- Albini's designs include Palazzo Bianco (1949-51), Palazzo Rosso (1952-62), Treasury of San Lorenzo (1952-56)
Entities
Artists
- Franco Albini
- Caterina Marcenaro
- Giovanni Pisano
- Graham Ellard
- Stephen Johnstone
- Manfredo Tafuri
- Gio Ponti
- Michael Brawne
- Marco Ferreri
- Henry Moore
- Michael Ayrton
- Patricia Falguières
- Ross Jenner
- Kay Bea Jones
- Cesare De Seta
- Stephen Leet
- Gernot Böhme
- Edoardo Persico
- Lina Bo Bardi
- Celine Condorelli
- Gian Lorenzo Mellini
- John Pope-Hennessy
- Margaret of Brabant
Institutions
- Afterall
- Palazzo Bianco
- Palazzo Rosso
- Treasury of San Lorenzo
- Museo di Sant'Agostino
- Triennale Design Museum
- UNESCO
- Museum (journal)
- Domus
- Architectural Press
- B T Batsford
- George Braziller
- Ashgate Publishing
- Princeton Architectural Press
- Mousse (magazine)
- Grey Room (journal)
- Interstices (journal)
- Journal of Architectural Education
- Apollo (magazine)
- University of British Columbia
Locations
- Genoa
- Italy
- Milan
- Palazzo Bianco, Genoa
- Palazzo Rosso, Genoa
- Treasury of San Lorenzo, Genoa
- Museo di Sant'Agostino, Genoa
- Triennale Design Museum, Milan
- Pisa
- São Paulo Museum of Art
- Brazil
- Western Europe
- Scandinavia
- America
- Crystal Palace, London
- Palazzo dell'Arte, Milan
Sources
- Afterall —