Online the catalog raisonné of Giacomo Manzù, in fieri and free to view

Since last December 12, the first catalog raisonné of Giacomo Manzù (Giacomo Manzoni; Bergamo, 1908 - Aprilia, 1991) has been online, a project with a dual purpose: To guarantee a scientific arrangement of the production of the great artist from Bergamo, one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century, thus offering an easy tool for insiders, scholars, dealers, museum operators and collectors, and to enhance his figure with a product that is also easily accessible to the public (consultation is, moreover, free of charge). The project was born from the collaboration between the Giacomo Manzù Foundation of Ardea, established in 2008, and Fondazione Banca Popolare di Bergamo, and also involved the Universities of Bergamo and Roma Tre, with a scientific committee coordinated by Barbara Cinelli and composed of Laura Iamurri, Sara Damiani, Simone Facchinetti and Marco Roncalli.

For the first part of the catalog raisonné, which includes Manzù’s activity from 1927 to 1947, curator is Caterina Caputo, an art historian, whose work was supported by Fondazione Giacomo Manzù and Fondazione Banca Popolare di Bergamo through the establishment of a research grant specifically aimed at the initial inventorying of the works and digitizing the related photographic documentation preserved in the Manzù Foundation Archives. Responsible for the IT infrastructure of the new online catalog are developers Giuseppe Falco, Nicola Gnecchi and Michele Mazzali; responsible for the design are Erica Bernardi, Alessandro Botta and Luca Pietro Nicoletti with an initial collaboration of Chiara Fabi.

The online catalog raisonné of Giacomo Manzù’s sculpture was created as a result of intense study and research, which aimed to restore the sculptor’s proper place in the national and international art scene. In addition, this is the first catalog raisonné of his work, so for the first time the sculptural activity of Giacomo Manzù is reorganized on the basis of an accurate documentary, bibliographic and exhibition reconnaissance. The project, because of the artist’s prolificacy, is considered a work in progress: data and cards will in fact be inserted and expanded continuously, so that users can follow the process of making the catalog, with also the possibility of concretely participating in the verification of the information.

“The project,” reads the presentation page, “develops an innovative approach but at the same time aware of the more established methodology adopted in the drafting of catalogs raisonné. Realized thanks to modern information and digital technologies, it consists of management software that allows information to be entered and organized according to the characteristics and particular hierarchies among individual works, and a dedicated website usable online. Thus, the platform interprets a viable alternative to classic paper editions, and through the possibility of creating, editing or adding catalog entries, it enables continuous updating of data. At the same time, the system offers the possibility both to consult individual cards in accordance with the traditional chronological organization of catalogs raisonné, and to query their contents using multiple search criteria. The works entered and their respective information are indexed by the system and related to each other, allowing simultaneous viewing of the works, sorted from time to time according to artistic techniques, individual bibliographic entries or provenance.”

The work of creating an online catalog, a type that is widespread abroad but of little attention in the Italian sphere, is also intended to pave the way for further research and in-depth study of the sculptor’s art and reciprocal influences with the Italian artistic milieu of the 20th century. The project of building a digital tool dedicated to Manzù started in January 2022 with the aim of returning a complete mapping of the artist’s works, preserved in public museums and private collections distributed around the world, and was presented in October 2022. The catalog includes, at present, more than 300 of them: each is accompanied by one or more photographs, taken at different times and by different authors, so that the visual fortunes of the same work can also be followed. All technical data (years, size, possible presence of signatures and inscriptions, current location) are present, and for each work there are all entries in the photographic archives, a list of exhibitions, a bibliography, and a scientific note.

Online the catalog raisonné of Giacomo Manzù, in fieri and free to view

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