From the 28 september to 8 december 2024
Form and image
Fulvio Muzi and Pictorial Experimentation in the 1960s
Exhibition curated by Federica Zalabra and Paolo Muzi
Forty years after the death of Fulvio Muzi (1915-1984), a key figure in the “abruzzese” artistic and cultural scene of the 20th century, the Museo Nazionale d’Abruzzo pays tribute to him with an exhibition organised in collaboration with the “ArteImmagine Fulvio Muzi” Association.
This small exhibition focuses on three of Muzi’s paintings from the Museum’s collection, presented alongside some artworks and various unpublished documents, generously loaned by the painter’s heirs.
The exhibition highlights Muzi’s activities in the 1960s, a period marked by intense study and political and social reflection. This era was particularly significant in the painter’s career and characterised by intriguing experiments in both Informal art and Pop Art.
Biography
1915: Fulvio Muzi is born the 17th of January in L’Aquila into a family of craftsmen who helps to bring him closer to art
1935: at the age of twenty he wins his first prize with Autoritratto, presented at the II Mostra Sindacale Interprovinciale dell’Abruzzo e Molise
1943-44: during the Second World War, Muzi serves under the Greek-Albanian front and then joins the ranks of the Greek Resistance
1945: he is involved in the first exhibition organized by the “Gruppo Artisti Aquilani” with a piano concert
1947: he obtains the first prize with Ritratto di adolescente at the Premio Regionale Abruzzese in L’Aquila
1948: he participates at the IV Mostra d’Arte organised in L’Aquila by the Aquilani Artists Group, of which he is a member
1951: he takes part in the VI Quadriennale Nazionale d’Arte at Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome, where he will come back for the exhibition L’arte nella vita del Mezzogiorno d’Italia in 1953
1954-1962; 1967-1969: he plays an active role in the annual editions of the Premio Nazionale F.P. Michetti in Francavilla al Mare
1955: with the foundation of the Municipal School of Art – later the State Art Institute – Muzi begins a long career as a teacher. The school has been intitled to the painter since 1999
1957: Muzi leads the restoration of the church of San Lorenzo in Turin. The activity of restorer, which he combines with painting, allows him to work around Italy and come into contact with the stimulating Post-War artistic environment
1960: he participates at the Omaggio a Chopin dei pittori e scultori aquilani in the sixteenth-century Castle of L’Aquila and at the III Biennale di arti figurative di Abruzzo e Molise, obtaining the first prize and the “soffrana d’oro”
1962: at the Sanluca Gallery in Rome, he takes part in the exhibition De Sanctis, Mantovanelli, Marinucci, Muzi, Vetere, shown again in 1963 at the Alfa Gallery in Venice
1963: he takes an active part in Dieci artisti abruzzesi oggi, organised at the Castle of L’Aquila in conjuction with Aspetti dell’Arte Contemporanea, an exhibition that presents for the first time the American Pop Art in L’Aquila a year before the Venice Biennale in 1964
1965: he is elected Councillor in the Municipal Council of L’Aquila and is involved in Alternative Attuali 2. Rassegna internazionale di pittura, scultura, grafica at the sixteenth-century Castle of L’Aquila
1968: he takes part in Alternative Attuali 3. Rassegna internazionale d’arte contemporanea at the sixteenth-century Castle of L’Aquila
1980 (15-22 June): a solo exhibition of his work, Fulvio Muzi, painter, is organized in Scanno as part of the Premio Scanno – Gian Gaspare Napolitano 1980 per le Arti Figurative
1982 (15 July-30 September): the anthological exhibition Fulvio Muzi dal 1932 ad oggi: cinquant’anni di pittura is curated by the critic of art Enrico Crispolti and hosted in the sixteenth-century Castle of L’Aquila
1984: the mural created by Muzi in the Council Chamber in the Municipal Palace of L’Aquila, commissioned by Mayor Tullio de Rubeis to commemorate the 40th year of the liberation of the city from Nazi occupation, is inaugurated in June. The artist dies in August
Fulvio Muzi in the 1960s
The figure serves as the guiding thread of Fulvio Muzi’s artistic production during his entire career. Between the late 1950s and the early 1960s, following an openly figurative phase with expressionist tones, the methods of Abstract Informalism, responded to the painter’s personal need for immediate expression. Muzi himself defined this period of his work as “a new recovery of spontaneity” because, as he said, “the urgency of the painting is no longer mediated by any mental form (…).” Despite this, the figurative element persisted through conceptual references expressed in the titles of the works. The paintings Figura (no. 7), Finestra (no. 3), Figure distese sulla sabbia (no. 8), and Figure distese (no. 5) represent this phase. The drawing Franco (no. 6), which portrays the painter’s son, is in dialogue with these paintings: the boy’s figure is sketched yet recognisable, while the thick strokes of the drawing, conveying the vigour of the gesture and the materiality of charcoal, evoke the style of Informal painting.
Shortly after the dates of these works, an event that left a significant – albeit temporary – mark on Muzi’s painting, took place. In 1963, the exhibition Aspetti dell’Arte Contemporanea, curated by Antonio Bandera and Enrico Crispolti, was held at the sixteenth-century Castle in L’Aquila. For the first time in Europe, this exhibition presented the new artistic movements of New Dada and Pop Art through the works of 13 American painters. Muzi, a key figure in the city’s cultural and artistic climate, immediately absorbed the novelties arriving from overseas, working on pieces such as Frammenti (no. 1), Interno (no. 2), and Ritratto di un uomo della Resistenza (no. 4). Muzi experimented with these new styles but truly embraced only the models that aligned with his own artistic vision. For this reason, the Pop phase of his work was brief and, by the 1970s, gave way to a period of visionary realism, expressed through representations of figures suspended in the void and nude falling bodies. He also explored a line of research connected to the local landscape, which expressed the painter’s deep-rooted connection with the Abruzzi mountains.
