Liberty Italiano Exhibition at Palazzo Magnani Explores Modernism

A major exhibition titled 'Liberty in Italia. Artisti alla ricerca del moderno' opened at Palazzo Magnani in Reggio Emilia, curated by Anna Villari and Francesco Parisi. The show gathers hundreds of works from minor provincial museums and private collections, aiming to deeply investigate the Liberty style (Italian Art Nouveau) across fine and applied arts, including illustration, ceramics, posters, and furniture. It features both renowned artists like Guido Aristide Sartorio, Amedeo Bocchi, Leonardo Bistolfi, Pietro Canonica, Galileo Chini, and Duilio Cambellotti, as well as lesser-known figures. The exhibition highlights preparatory drawings, sketches, and cartoons alongside finished works to reveal the creative process and cross-disciplinary exchanges of early 20th-century practice. Villari notes that Liberty produced an enormous body of work, and the show seeks to demonstrate that research on the movement is not exhausted, aiming to protect not only masterpieces but also the broader cultural fabric that reflected a refined society until World War I. The exhibition runs until February 14, 2017.