Tornabuoni Art Paris presents postwar Italian painting through an alphabetical lens

Curator Marc Donnadieu has organized "Un alphabet de l'ordre et du désordre" at Tornabuoni Art in Paris, running through June 2024. The exhibition reinterprets Italian postwar painting using an alphabetical structure of 20 action verbs, from "attaquer" to "zigzaguer," linking each to a specific artwork. Featuring 22 artists including Carla Accardi, Alighiero Boetti, Alberto Burri, Lucio Fontana, Giuseppe Penone, Dadamaino, Piero Manzoni, and four non-Italian artists (Nam June Paik, Salvatore Scarpitta, Antoni Tàpies, Arman), the show draws primarily from the gallery's collection of Italian art. Donnadieu was inspired by two works by Alighiero Boetti: the tapestry "Ordine e Desordine" (1973) and "Mettere al mondo il mondo" (1973). The exhibition contextualizes the art within the geopolitical tensions of postwar Italy, where the Italian Communist Party was the largest outside the Soviet sphere and the Christian Democrats held power. Donnadieu emphasizes that artists like Fontana, whose "Concetto spaziale, attese" (1959) destroys the canvas to open infinite space, demonstrate rebirth within destruction. A standout work is Salvatore Scarpitta's "Senza Titolo (Protesta?)" (1955), which references the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery and critiques discrimination and witch hunts in both the US and Italy. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog published by Forma Edizioni / Tornabuoni Art.