NEW YORK, NY.- Fontanesi, Ciardi, De Nittis, Previati and Morbelli: these are some of the Italian painters who will be exhibited in New York in a new exhibition this summer. The Italian Cultural Institute of New York announces Italian Light: Skies and Waters, on view from July 20 – September 14, 2022. Building on the Institute’s tradition of exhibiting distinguished works of Italian culture and artistry to the American public, Italian Light: Skies and Waters, will showcase landscape paintings created throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries from different Italian schools and movements who exhibit exemplary use of light.

Curated by Marco Bertoli, established Art Advisor and promoted by Professor Fabio Finotti, director of the Italian Cultural Institute, the exhibition project aims to investigate the study of light in the landscape between the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

"The exhibition - says Marco Bertoli - will be a temporal journey that traces the progression of painters of the time, highlighting the key themes: the predilection for painting from life - en plein air – and a study of the rendering of atmosphere and the singularities of light and color. From the premises established in the 1860s within the School of Resina, on through the innovative experience of the Tuscan Macchiaioli, arriving at the symbolist landscapes, up to the birth of Divisionism.

The freshness of the rural landscapes of Federico Rossano and Francesco Lojacono, the poetic atmospheric views of Antonio Fontanesi, the views of Venice by Guglielmo Ciardi are just some of the inspirations that guide the visitor through the 24 works on loan from prominent Italian private collections for the exhibition. The study of light continues in the works of Giuseppe De Nittis, with two exceptional works which illustrate his study of light and way of instantly translating reality onto canvas. The exhibition then continues with two late 19th century canvases by Gaetano Previati, the most lyrical and visionary Pointillist painter. Among the works of the early twentieth century are examples by Angelo Morbelli, Cesare Maggi and Guido Cinotti, in which the landscape becomes a pretext for the interpretation of light and its refractions.

“The Italian painters of the nineteenth century showed extraordinary curiosity in explorations of time and space. They studied usage of light in the works of Old Masters, comparing it to light that modern science teaches to study, practicing painting en plen air” – Professor Fabio Finotti, Director of the Italian Cultural Institute.

Italian light: Skies and Waters is the fourth exhibition curated by Marco Bertoli at the Italian Cultural Institute of New York. It follows previous exhibitions I Macchiaioli in 2014, The Light of Southern Italy in 2015, and Memories of Serenissima in 2017.