Artemisia Gentileschi Anna Anni Palazzo Blu Pisa Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Last week, my Florentine friend Simone invited me to go to Pisa with him to see the free exhibit of the paintings of Artemisia Gentileschi, a good painter who was the contemporary of Michelangelo. And a woman: A financially successful woman artist.

I actually used one of her figures in a work I created for my first exhibit in Italy “Kelly Borsheim: Luce dall'oscurità.” The Gentileschi work that I “lifted” was a composition of “Susanna and the Elders.” I looked for this painting in the current exhibit at Pisa’s Palazzo Blu, but they showed a different one of the same title, equally enchanting. I show it here with my friend as a size comparison. Palazzo Blu is literally a blue building and quite easy to find along the river.

I was delighted that my favorite piece in the show was “Allegoria della Pittura” (Allegory of a Painter, 1638-1645) by Artemisia Gentileschi and is in a private collection. For me, that is a bit of the point to attend these collective exhibitions of one artist. Otherwise, you might never see a work owned by private hands. I show my horribly blurry image of the portrait painting here.

The surprise that even Simone did not know about was the exhibit on the costume designs by Anna Anni Normally, I am not so interested in fashion, except maybe perhaps in a bizarre way. But I was intrigued by these costumes, for me a bit of another world, old-fashioned, charming and yet… je ne said quoi. See what you think. I might be a bit too romantic…. Or thinking too much of vampires.

The exhibit at Palazzo Blu in Pisa, Italy, continues FREE until 30 June 2013. Get by to see it and spend a lovely day checking out the sights in Pisa OTHER THAN the famous piazza containing the Leaning Tower.
Palazzo Blu
“Artemisia Gentileschi nel 1632: La musa Clio musa della Stori e gli anni napoletani.
(Cleo the muse of history and the Naples’ years)

Dopo il successo della mostra Wassily Kandinsky. Dalla Russia all'Europa BLU | Palazzo d'arte e cultura presenta la nuova iniziativa. Fulcro dell'iniziativa è il dipinto eseguito da Artemisia Gentileschi nel 1632: Clio musa della Storia. La mostra, che propone importanti dipinti, inediti o mai visti in Italia, si concentra sugli anni napoletani dell’artista e approfondisce le nostre conoscenze sulla sua cospicua produzione partenopea e sulle sue vicende biografiche nella capitale del Vice Regno e in Toscana, dove Artemisia conservava interessi e proprietà.

Costumi di scena: Anna Anni e l'Officina Cerratelli

La nuova iniziativa di Palazzo Blu, realizzata in collaborazione con la Fondazione Cerratelli, è un omaggio ad una delle più celebri costumiste italiane. Anna Anni, infatti, ha firmato centinaia di produzioni per prestigiosi teatri in tutto il mondo. La mostra mette in risalto, oltre alle sue splendide creazioni, il legame professionale con Franco Zeffirelli e con tutti quei registi e artisti che con Anna Anni hanno condiviso il suo successo.