m.a.x. museo

06.10.2019—16.02.2020


The exhibition held in the m.a.x. museo forms part of the cultural Kermesse of the Biennale dell’immagine that for over twenty years has distinguished the research into photography and the visual arts conducted in Chiasso.

Established over ten editions as one of the most original events of its kind in Switzerland and Europe, it has also become a meeting point between the most innovative creative experiences in this field. Hence the occasion prompted us to focus on the particular relationship – still little investigated – between photography and posters, retracing the stages of the artistic production of the great master Marcello Dudovich(1878-1962). Triestine by birth and international by vocation, Dudovich was a great communicator and absolute innovator. Held to be one of the fathers of modern poster art. The exihibition, Marcello Dudovich (1878-1962). Photography between Art and Passion, is devoted to his work, and seeks in particular to reconstruct the creative processes of the Triestine artist through previously unpublished material from archives and museums.
Remembered by scholars for the production of appealing posters (including those for the Mele stores in Naples, for Borsalino, La Rinascente, Campari, Martini, Agfa and Pirelli), he drew largely on the visual resource of the photographic image in his poster design. He himself took photos to serve as studies in designing his posters, or used photographs taken by family members or other famous photographers.

The exhibition displays over two hundred unpublished photographs from private and public collections (while over a thousand are visible on the monitors in the various rooms), paired with sketches and watercolor preparations for the drafting of its posters, about thirty of which are visible in the exhibition. There are also references to silent cinema and the stars of the time, whose charm particularly fascinated the artist, as well as the relationship with his teacher at the Officine Grafiche Ricordi: Leopoldo Metlicovitz, twenty previously unpublished photographs by whom are presented for the first time in a public exhibition. The exhibition is richly illustrated and documented with autograph letters by Marcello Dudovich, post cards, magazine covers, including those for “La Lettura”, “Ars et Labor”, “La Donna”, “Il Secolo XX” and in particular “Simplicissimus” withits splendid unpublished sketches.

The exhibition is in partnership with the Villa Bernasconi Museum in Cernobbio, where some posters are displayed at the same time as the m.a.x. museum.  The exhibition is also promoted in collaboration with the Museo Storico e il Parco del Castello di Miramare of Trieste, where it will be held in the exhibition space of the Scuderie with an “integrated project” in spring 2020.

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