Parma | After all the necessary deferrals due to the general health situation APE Parma Museum is given a green light to open the inedited exhibition Through the Avant-garde. Giuseppe Niccoli / vision and courage of a Gallery, organised by Fondazione Monteparma, with the precious collaboration of Roberto and Marco Niccoli, sons of the founder of the famous and namesake Gallery in Parma, which they today manage.
“Instead of organising an opening which would have, for obvious reasons, been reserved only to few, in consideration of the current health and safety regulations, we have chosen to offer a weekend of free admission for everyone (19 and 20 September), with the idea of sharing profusely a positive signal of restart of our cultural and artistic life. The prorogation of the exhibition until February 21, 2021 will allow, furthermore, to organise a vast program of collateral, in — depth analysis events reserved to smallgroups”.
Within the artistic program of its new cultural and museum centre inaugurated in 2018, the Foundation has chosen to remember the figure of Giuseppe Niccoli — with his extraordinary activity of discovery and valorisation of talents and of the history of the Gallery founded in the 70’s. For his original work, he constitutes an unicum and he was able to establish himself internationally.
The exhibition, curated by Roberto and Marco Niccoli, presents works of international artists such as Afro, Agostino Bonalumi, Alberto Burri, Enrico Castellani, Alik Cavaliere, Ettore Colla, Piero Dorazio, Lucio Fontana, Conrad Marca-Relli, Fausto Melotti, Mimmo Rotella, Angelo Savelli, Salvatore Scarpitta, Mario Schifano and many others representing the artistic currents that Niccoli Gallery has followed, exhibited and supported in the course of the past 50 years – anticipating, in many cases, market tendencies and, furthermore, focusing on the importance of activities such as the classification and discovery of forgotten artists and movements. In particular, a special place in the exhibition is reserved for famous artist Conrad Marca-Relli, who moved to Parma in 1997 – the same year in which his archive was constituted at the Gallery.
The title of the exhibition resonates the important book series Through the avant – garde, a pivotal point of the intense editorial activity brought forward by Niccoli Gallery and which has given life to catalogues and volumes that have become veritable history of art manuals and to which a large section is reserved in the exhibition.
After all, Giuseppe Niccoli comes from the world of publishing – as an editor at Rizzoli, he opened four sale points in Trieste, Florence, Pescara and Parma, choosing subsequently the latter. After moving to Parma, he opened a bookshop that specialised in art books and which progressively became also an exhibiting space until, in 1980, it was completely transformed into art gallery.
It is possible to visit the exhibition from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10.30am to 5.30pm
The exhibition is located in wide spaces which allow to keep interpersonal distance, as required by the current health and safety regulations, under the strict vigilance of our dedicated personnel. To guarantee the maximum safety for the visitors — as required by the current health regulations — admission to APE Parma Museum is allowed only to visitors wearing face masks and after they have had their body temperature taken and their hands sanitised with the gel provided. Booking is required only for groups above 8 people. For information and bookings: tel. 0521 2034 and email: attraversoleavanguardie@apeparmamuseo.it. Full admission price: 8 euros: reduced (under 35, over 65, differently abled people and their carers, groups of at least 10 people): 5 euros; free admission for schools, under 18, tourist guides and journalists.