This volume accompanies the exhibition presented in Pistoia, at Palazzo Buontalenti, from 16 March to 14 July 2024.
Pop Art was immediately characterised as a purely metropolitan development. Originating in London in 1956, it spread to New York, Los Angeles, Paris, and then across the world, becoming the principal expression of art in the decade at least until 1968. Once it reached Italy, it retained this characteristic, developing in particular in Rome, Turin and Milan. And it is precisely by starting from the concept of the city, understood not just geographically but also as an element in a network of connections bringing together artists, events, galleries and institutions, that the exhibition seeks to explore some of the nerve centres of Pop Art in Italy. Not just the “capitals of art”, but apparently more secluded towns, such as Pistoia, where a group called the “School of Pistoia” formed and was able to dialogue on an equal footing with their counterparts in the School of Piazza del Popolo; Palermo, the home of “Revort 1” and “Revort 2”, exhibitions in which art engaged in a comparison with literature and music; and Venice, where the 1964 Biennale marked a turning point, with the prize going to Robert Rauschenberg and the definitive consecration of Pop Art in Europe. Specific textual and visual insights are devoted to these places and events, which make the catalogue that accompanies the exhibition not only useful in getting one’s bearings in one of the most celebrated artistic currents of the last century, but also a true guide for an ideal tour of the Italy of Pop.
Bilingual volume in Italian and English. Translations by Bill Lee, Oona Smyth and Edward Lynch for Scriptum, Rome.
€ 35,00