In Rome, the Scuderie del Quirinale host the exhibition Liberated Art 1937-1947. Masterpieces saved from war. This is a major new exhibition, which has already been underway for a few days and which will continue until 10 April 2023. The exhibition is curated by Luigi Gallo and Raffaella Morselli and organized by the Stables themselves in collaboration with the National Gallery of the Marche, the ICCD – Central Institute for Cataloging and Documentation andLight Archive – Cinecittà.
Liberated art
The show offers a selection of over one hundred masterpieces saved during the Second World War, as well as a wide documentary, photographic and audio panorama. Works brought together thanks to the collaboration of as many as forty museums and institutes, for a compelling and exciting story of a dramatic moment for our country but equally far-sighted and foundational for a new civic consciousness. A dutiful tribute to the women and men who, in the dramatic war contingency, have interpreted their profession in the name of a common interest, aware of the universality of the heritage to be saved.
At the center of the exhibition project the forward-looking action of many supervisors and officials of the Fine Arts Administration, often forced to rest after refusing to join the Republic of Salò. They assisted by art historians and representatives of the Vatican hierarchies, they became interpreters of a great undertaking to safeguard the artistic and cultural heritage. Among these are numbered Giulio Carlo Argan, Palma Bucarelli, Emilio Lavagnino, Vincenzo Moschini, Pasquale Rotondi, Fernanda Wittgens. Noemi Gabrielli, Aldo de Rinaldis, Bruno Molajoli, Francesco Arcangeli, Jole Bovio and Rodolfo Siviero, secret agent and future plenipotentiary minister in charge of restitutions.
Masterpieces saved from war
People who, without weapons and with limited means, became aware of the threat hanging over works of art. Aware of this, they lined up in the front line to avoid it, aware of the educational, identity and community value of art. The exhibition therefore recomposes the plot of a plot arranged with many threads: some have already been told, others have been forgotten and will be brought to light on this occasion. All are fundamental pieces to tell a heroic story and, in its complexity, little known.
(Texts and images scuderiequirinale.it)
