Bergamo, presented the new director of the Carrara Academy, Martina Bagnoli

In Bergamo, theAccademia Carrara today unveiled its new director, Martina Bagnoli, who in recent years had directed the Gallerie Estensi in Modena and Ferrara, where she served for eight years, from 2015 to 2023 (she was among the first directors of the autonomous museums created with the 2014 reform). An art historian, twenty years of experience, born and raised in Italy, she has, however, completed her entire university career abroad: in fact, she obtained a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree at the University of Cambridge and then obtained a doctorate in medieval art history, in May 1999, at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, with a thesis on the frescoes in the crypt of the Cathedral of Anagni. For years engaged in the study of medieval art, she has an important bibliography to her credit.

Before coming to the Accademia Carrara Foundation, Martina Bagnoli, as mentioned, was director of the Estensi Galleries, and since 2022 she has also been president of the Europeana Foundation. Formerly director of the medieval art collections at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, where she curated several exhibitions including Treasures of Heaven. Saints, Relics and Devotion in Medieval Europe, organized in collaboration with the Cleveland Museum of Art and the British Museum, and A Feast for the Senses. Art and Experience in Medieval Europe, he has also taught at various American universities, including Baltimore’s own Johns Hopkins University. At the Estensi Galleries, Bagnoli has initiated a vast program of transformations, from rearrangements to the digitization of collections, introducing major innovations such as, for example, the use of sharing platforms to make the museum more welcoming and accessible.

Martina Bagnoli takes over as director of Fondazione Accademia Carrara following the conclusion of the term of Maria Cristina Rodeschini, in office until Jan. 31, 2024, who bids farewell to Carrara, leaving the new director and General Manager Gianpietro Bonaldi a museum that is strongly connected to the city of Bergamo and its territory, as well as known worldwide. During the press presentation, Bagnoli already announced the first three exhibitions that will be organized at the Carrara under her tenure: it will start on April 23 with the Naples in Bergamo exhibition, dedicated to Neapolitan painting of the seventeenth century present in the city, after which there will be an exhibition on the relationship between authentic and fake and it will also cover contemporary art, while about the third one there is still secrecy, but it is known that it will be organized in collaboration with a museum in New York.

“I thank Mayor Gori and Culture Councilor Nadia Ghisalberti for the trust,” Bagnoli said. “I accept this appointment with a great sense of responsibility and maximum commitment. Accademia Carrara is the cultural institution of reference for the city of Bergamo, and the work done over the past years to make it more and more alive and welcoming has been enormous. Applause goes to outgoing director M. Cristina Rodeschini and general manager Gianpietro Bonaldi. I accept this legacy with the promise to continue to work so that the Carrara becomes more and more an indispensable reference point not only for the city but also in the national and international context, starting with the fundamental activities for a museum like ours: research, education, conservation and public involvement.”

Bergamo, presented the new director of the Carrara Academy, Martina Bagnoli

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.