The Italian Cultural Institute in Beijing is currently hosting “The Centenary Triptych. Leonardo 1919 Raffaello 1920 Dante 1921 and the Italian Ingenuity at the Origins of Made in Italy” (Il Trittico del Centenario. Leonardo 1919 Raffaello 1920 Dante 1921 e l’Ingegno Italiano alle origini del Made in Italy) exhibition, an initiative to explore the celebrations of the centenaries of Leonardo, Raphael and Dante celebrated between 1919 and 1921, when Italy had just come out of the Great War and was trying to rebuild its national identity by looking back on these three great masters of the past.
The exhibition, curated by Virginia Lapenta and Guicciardo Sassoli de’ Bianchi Strozzi, will remain open until 15 September to then be hosted by other Chinese and East Asian cities. It features works ranging from the early 20th century to Futurism to the Art Biennials, including avant-garde graphics used in advertisements of the time that evoke the dawn of Made in Italy. Billboards for Pirelli, Eni, Campari, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Isotta Fraschini, Olivetti and Richard Ginori, created by the same artists who also worked for the celebrations of the three centenaries, such as Umberto Boccioni, Mario Sironi and Primo Conti.
Already presented in 2022 in Rome at Villa Farnesina and exhibited at the Museo della Grafica in Pisa, the exhibition, organised by the Italian Cultural Institute in Beijing with the support of the Italian Ministry of Culture, the Italian Embassy in Beijing and Associazione Amici dell’Accademia dei Lincei, has been redesigned and rearranged at Raffles City Beijing, where 120 works, posters and magazines and more than 150 books, catalogues, advertisements, postcards and vintage stamps are on display.
