Florence, a week of events with Florence Art Week accompanying the Biennale d'Antiquariato

The most important week of the year forancient art is about to kick off: it is the week that accompanies the XXXI edition of the Florence Biennale Internazionale dell’Antiquariato, which this year takes place from September 21 to 29, 2019, and will be flanked by Florence Art Week, a week of exhibitions and events. But let’s start with the Biennale: after the invitation-only preview and gala dinner on Sept. 19, and after the preview for VIPs, journalists, superintendents, directors and collectors on Sept. 20, Palazzo Corsini will open its doors to everyone, every day from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. (Saturday, Sept. 21 until 9 p.m.). Also scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 21, is the opening ceremony at the Salone dei Cinquecento in Palazzo Vecchio. This year there are 77 participating galleries(full list here) and many new and valuable works that exhibitors will bring to the Tuscan capital(main ones here).

As far as Florence Art Week is concerned, the public can mark several events, starting with the exhibition to be held at Galleria Poggiali in Florence, a new entry to the Biennale, which will present a selection of works by artists Zorio and Enzo Cucchi, and Galleria Bacarelli Antichità, which will organize, in collaboration with Galleria Botticelli Antichità and Galleria Continua of San Gimignano (moving to Florence as a new entry to BIAF), an exhibition that will combine Renaissance and neoclassical works with contemporary works by Michelangelo Pistoletto, Anish Kapoor and Daniel Buren. Also among the galleries, Frascione Arte will offer works by Ruggero Michaelles, better known as RAM, brother of the eclectic Futurist painter and sculptor Ernesto Michahelles (who went down in art history as Thayaht), including some previously unseen works.

Again, on the occasion of the exhibition The Florence of Giovanni and Telemaco Signorini, which will open in conjunction with BIAF, the public will also be able to admire the historic salons on the piano nobile of Palazzo Antinori. At the Roberto Casamonti Collection at Palazzo Bartolini Salimbeni, the second twentieth century “according to Roberto Casamonti” is the subject of an exhibition with works by Tony Cragg, Basquiat, Pistolletto, Boetti and others: some 90 masterpieces from the 1960s to the new millennium that come from the Roberto Casamonti Collection. Nearby, on Via Tornabuoni, on Saturday 21 the boutiques of Florence’s “chicest” street will offer an exhibition of vintage motorcycles. Space will then be given to the Universo Bardini exhibition, dedicated to the historical figure of antiquarian Stefano Bardini. To conclude, on Sunday, September 29, free access to BIAF for all residents of the Florence metropolitan area.

BIAF benefits again this year from important collaborations, including those with AXA XL Art & Lifestyle, main partner, and Fondazione CR Firenze, which again this year offered its valuable contribution to the realization of the event, and the new partnership with Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Precisely thanks to this recent partnership, at the foyer of the Maggio Theater, it will be possible to admire the exhibition La Biennale in black and white, a selection of historical photos from the BIAF archive, selected by Bruno Botticelli: images often “stolen” from the many excellent visitors, from the smiling Sophia Loren to Greta Garbo defending herself from the paparazzo pestering her, up to the more institutional portraits of Presidents and public figures wandering around the stands in a solemn manner, but above all the antiquarians, the true protagonists of the event. The partnership with the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino also includes the possibility, for all participants in the Exhibition, to attend the performances scheduled at the Teatro del Maggio during the week of the Biennial(La traviata and the diptych Pagliacci/Noi, due quattro...), at subsidized conditions. Also scheduled is a concert to be held during the week of the exhibition in the Salone del Trono of Palazzo Corsini.

Finally, for its national and international audience, BIAF has defined a series of experiences: proposals to visit the exhibition to which more convivial moments can be added inside Palazzo Corsini and throughout the city. The partner for these activities is Musement, an operator for searching and booking tours and attractions worldwide. The provider is therefore an official booking partner of the International Biennial.

For all info on BIAF and Florence Art Week, you can visit the BIAF website.

Florence, a week of events with Florence Art Week accompanying the Biennale d'Antiquariato

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