Marionettes and Avant-Garde: A Show on Puppets' Subversive Power in Reggio Emilia

Palazzo Magnani in Reggio Emilia hosts "Marionette e Avanguardia," a curated exhibition by James Bradburne exploring the role of puppets in avant-garde art. The show centers on the Pirandellian concept of the "fourth wall," where puppets break the barrier between stage and audience, embodying directness and subversion. It features costumes by Pablo Picasso for the 1917 Ballets Russes production "Parade," alongside marionettes and puppets from Commedia dell'Arte and experimental techniques. The exhibition highlights how artists like Fortunato Depero and Enrico Prampolini used mechanical marionettes to express the devastation of World War I. Bauhaus figures such as Paul Klee, Andor Weininger, Lothar Schreyer, Sophie Tauber Arp, and Oskar Schlemmer reimagined toys and puppets in the 1920s. In Russia, Lenin and his wife saw puppets as tools for Soviet education and literacy, with contributions from El Lissitzky, Aleksandra Ekster, and Nina Efimova. The show concludes with a tribute to Otello Sarzi (1922–2001), a visionary puppeteer from Reggio Emilia who used puppet theater for antifascist messages and social justice, elevating small characters into giants of ideals. The exhibition underscores the political and subversive potential of fairy tales, a quality lost in modern adaptations.