This mornings activity definitely shows the advantage of a study tour. Our professor arranged for us to visit the Casamonti collection of modern and contemporary art. The owner of the collection, Roberto Casamonti is the founder of Tornabuoni Arte. In its storied current palazzo space, the collection must be divided and only half on display at once. We viewed “from the 1960s to the start of the 21st century.” We were accompanied by an Italian artist who our professor asked to engage in looking at works from the view of landscape.
I actually did not take photos while we were viewing the collection. We saw interesting pieces. One artist, new to me, worked in fiber, Alighiero Boetti. His most famous works are Mappe(s); of the world with the flags making up the shape of each country. They were embroidered in Afganistan and the artist usually let the needleworkers make color decisions. His other best known works are in ballpoint pen. Apparently he was also a heroin addict, and died young of a brain tumor. It’s interesting that he is the artist who conceived the work but in the cast of the embroidery, which is very fine work, he was not the executor.
We made a brief trip to a restaurant to view the new interiors that our gallery guide had completed. It was a golden space with mirrors on the ceiling, covered with a film, to make the space glow more. Mark and I returned to the restaurant later that night, for a very fine meal.
We were turned loose for the afternoon and wandered around to shop and take in the scene. We hadn’t been by Santa Maria Novella, so we made that a destination.
Posted 10/31/24 about 10/28/24 activities.
