From March 29 to May 17, 2026, the exhibition halls of the Bottari Lattes Foundation in Monforte d’Alba (Cuneo) are hosting the exhibition Portraits of the 20th Century. The Collections of the Bottari Lattes Foundation and Beyond, curated by Francesco Poli. The exhibition offers an itinerary through more than fifty works that address the theme of portraiture in the 20th century, relating the works of Mario Lattes to those of artists belonging to his generation or present in his collections.
The exhibition project builds on Mario Lattes’ constant interest in portraiture throughout his artistic activity. An interest that is developed through a research attentive to individualidentity, capable of oscillating between different registers. Indeed, in his works emerge both more intimate outcomes, as in portraits of family members, and solutions characterized by expressionist tensions and visionary components, in line with those literary suggestions and fantastic and surreal images that run through his production. Within the exhibition a specific space is reserved for the numerous self-portraits made by Lattes. In these works, the artist’s face becomes a ground for investigation of his own psychological and existential dimension, shaping a direct and problematic confrontation with self-image. Alongside the artist’s works, the exhibition presents a selection of portraits from the collections of the Bottari Lattes Foundation, expanding the discourse on the genre and its declinations in the last century.
A second section is devoted to portraits and self-portraits of painters and sculptors with whom Mario Lattes had direct relations or with whom he dealt in the artistic context of his generation. The selection includes works by Mario Reviglione, Felice Casorati, Jessie Boswell, Carlo Levi, Francesco Menzio, Daphne Maugham, Nella Marchesini, Italo Cremona, Luigi Spazzapan, Mario Calandri and Carol Rama, along with works by sculptors such as Giacomo Manzù, Umberto Mastroianni, Sandro Cherchi and Mario Giansone. The exhibition is organized with the support of the Piedmont Region and Italiana Assicurazioni - Alba and Mondovì Sciolla Agency, and under the patronage of the Municipality of Monforte d’Alba, Unione dei Comuni Colline di Langa e del Barolo, and Confindustria Cuneo.
Mario Lattes (Turin, 1923-2001), painter, writer and publisher, occupied a central position in Turin’s cultural life of the second half of the 20th century. During the war he escaped the racial laws by finding refuge between Rome and Rieti, then joining the Allied troops as an interpreter. He returned to Turin in 1945 and, after World War II, took over as director of the Lattes publishing house, founded by his grandfather Simone in 1893. Also active as an author and draftsman, he collaborated with the leading cultural magazines of the period and in 1953 founded Galleria, then Questioni, establishing himself as an influential voice in the national cultural debate. Between 1958 and 1985 he published novels, short stories, and poems, as well as his dissertation The Warsaw Ghetto, which came together in the critical edition Works for Olschki.
In 1947 he held his first exhibition at La Bussola gallery in Turin, starting an exhibition path that continued throughout his life. He exhibited in solo shows in Turin, Rome, Milan, Florence and Bologna, participated in two editions of the Venice Biennale and the Quadrennial Exhibitions in Turin and Rome, as well as numerous group shows.
Hours: the exhibition can be visited Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., and on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 to 5 p.m.
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| An exhibition at the Bottari Lattes Foundation brings together twentieth-century portraits and self-portraits |
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