Crocifissioni + Crucifixions: Pozzati, Nitsch and Bacon on show

The sacred and profane are here revolving around a symbol – the cross, the crucifixion – and three different artists’ work. Well, I would better say two artists plus one apart: i.e. Francis Bacon. The exhibition “Crocifissioni + Crucifixions,” now on show in the enchanting, sumptuous rooms of XVIII-century Palazzo Aldrovandi Montanari (once Bologna’s central public library), aims to create a multi-level dialogue among Concetto Pozzati (1935), Hermann Nitsch (1938) and Francis Bacon (1909 – 1992), around a common theme that condenses violence, pain, justice, religion, rituality, and reality.

The relationship between the contemporary art on show and the ancient art on the walls (the fresco and the stucco by Vittorio Maria Bigari and Stefano Orlandi) offers another perspective to the whole operation: the global effect is never less than astonishing.

The installation of Hermann Nitsch in the main room of Palazzo Montanari. Photo Elettra Bastoni

The installation of Hermann Nitsch in the main room of Palazzo Montanari, Bologna. Photo Elettra Bastoni

An enormous installation by Wiener Aktionismus’ leader Hermann Nitsch is composed by a wide canvas, wooden structures, sacred cloths with blood and red painted traces, and occupies the bigger room of the ancient palace. It’s the mise-en-scène of a sacrilegious ritual that was represented to provoke disgust and therefore purification through catharsis. But if you look up to the ceiling you can see dragons, little angels, and frames of a typical well-crafted 18th-century art form. We also find two big drawings on canvas – “Last Supper” (1976-’79) and “Deposition in the Sepulcher” (2007) – one opposite to the other in an empty space, dramatically evoking the humanity of the son of God in those crucial moments of the sacred story.

The installation of Hermann Nitsch in the main room of Palazzo Montanari. Photo Elettra Bastoni

Letztes Abendmahl (Last Supper) (1976-1979) by Hermann Nitsch at Palazzo Montanari, Bologna. Photo Elettra Bastoni

Concetto Pozzati put his well-known Pop-Art attitude to dress the pain and the disease, handling with the participation to a desperation. His works on show belong to the “Torture” (2004) cycle, which refers to the tortures that took place at Abu Ghraib, and “De-positions” (2006), where bodies are removed from a day-by-day cross, to which we all are hanged in this tragic age. In this way, the beloved irony and desecration turns into a sort of global deep disappointment.

De-posizioni (2006) by Concetto Pozzati (oil, acrylic and enamel on canvas) at Palazzo Montanari, Bologna. Photo Elettra Bastoni

Torture (2004) by Concetto Pozzati (oil, acrylic and enamel on canvas) at Palazzo Montanari, Bologna. Photo Elettra Bastoni

The third protagonist of the show deserves a chapter apart, as we are talking about the long-debated Italian drawings by Sir Francis Bacon. I should first explain that the idea of this exhibition came basically from “The Francis Bacon Collection of drawings donated to Cristiano Lovatelli Ravarino”, represented by Italian professor and lawyer Umberto Guerini, who is involved since many years in the process of authentication of those drawings (about 500 sheets, 100×70 cm) that would have been given by Bacon to his (unofficial) Italian boyfriend Ravarino as a lovely gift between 1977 and 1992.

Francis Bacon’s Italian drawings, exhibition view at Palazzo Montanari, Bologna. Photo Elettra Bastoni

It’s a sort of mystery that keeps on dividing judges and critics, because Bacon’s signatures on those drawings have been (officially) declared authentic. But the critical literature (and above all British art critic David Sylvester, and his conversations with the artist – first published in 1975 – that have become the Baconologist’s bible) about the Dubliner painter has always stressed his categorical refuse to draw.

The Estate of Francis Bacon is about to publish a Catalogue Raisonné on 28th April 2016 – the anniversary of Francis Bacon’s death – that will contain over 900 illustrations in five cloth-bound, hardcover volumes. And from the Estate, Martin Harrison declares that the Italian drawings can’t be attributed to Bacon for sure. Despite this controversy, on the occasion of the Bolognese exhibition a catalogue of the complete set of the Italian drawings, curated by Edward Lucie-Smith and Umberto Guerini, has been officially presented.

Francis Bacon’s Italian drawings, exhibition view at Palazzo Montanari, Bologna. Photo Elettra Bastoni

While discussing about attribution, each time adding a new step forward to this interesting story, the Italian drawings have been traveling around the world appearing in shows, like this one in Bologna: it’s a chance to see with your own eyes and to ask yourself about Bacon’s work and human happenings.

The ten drawings under glass on show in Bologna are all about crucifixion, represented by deformed human bodies: different techniques that include also collage and the use of pastel, but all in big sizes. It’s just a very small part of the entire collection, but enough to make up a first personal idea of the matter, beyond the legal and official aspects of the affair.

“Crocifissioni + Crucifixions”: Concetto Pozzati, Hermann Nitsch, Francis Bacon on show at Palazzo Aldrovandi Montanari, via Galliera, 8, Bologna through February 21, 2016.