1950S’ TURIN

THE GREAT SEASON OF ART INFORMEL

March 27th –  September 1st 2024

Curated by Francesco Poli

The exhibition aims to draw attention to a fundamental phase in the development of the new art scene in Turin from the post-World War II period to the early 1960s.

Following the tragic events of the war, in a climate of general ideological and cultural renewal, even Italy witnessed an accelerated process of transformation and connection with the latest international movements in the field of figurative arts, from post-Cubism to Abstractionism all the way through to the explosion of the highly dynamic season of Art Informel in the 1950s.

Together with Milan, Rome and Venice, Turin with its own particular characteristics became one of the driving centres of contemporary art. This role was consolidated with the inauguration in 1959 of the new GAM (Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna) headquarters and gradually grew over the following decades with the emergence of new trends (such as Arte Povera) and the opening of many leading galleries, the Castello di Rivoli (1984) and the contemporary art fair Artissima (1994).

The exhibition features around seventy works by approximately sixty artists, some of whom worked and carried out their research in the Turin area (such Luigi Spazzapan, Umberto Mastroianni, Carol Rama, Mario Merz and Pinot Gallizio), while the others are Italian and international protagonists of 1950s’ trends (such as Lucio Fontana, Afro, Alberto Burri, Emilio Vedova, Jean Fautrier, Georges Mathieu, Hans Hartung, Antoni Tapiés, Jean-Paul Riopelle and Asger Jorn).