Le tecniche antiche nel mondo moderno – I 60 anni della Mostra di Mosaici Moderni

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Exhibition of Modern Mosaics, which opened in Ravenna on 7 June 1959 and was launched by a conference on the art of the modern mosaic, the MAR is dedicating a study day to exploring some key themes linked to that important event: from reconstructing the artistic and cultural climate that led to the exhibition’s realisation, to commemorating the leading figures in art criticism and the art world who, through their participation in that initiative, paved the way for new reflections and perspectives on the development of contemporary mosaic art, to the ever-relevant debate on the relationship between the design sketch and the finished mosaic work.
Historical insights into the Mosaic School of the Academy of Ravenna, where all the master mosaicists were trained, will be accompanied by new documentary and iconographic research into the entire story.
The collection, comprising 20 mosaic panels and 14 preparatory sketches, was entrusted to the Municipal Art Gallery in 1985 by the ‘Organising Committee for the Exhibition of Mosaics by Contemporary Artists’.
The owning bodies – the Province of Ravenna, the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Agriculture and Crafts, and the Rotary Club of Ravenna – signed a 99-year loan agreement free of charge in favour of the city’s Art Museum in 2008.
The study day is dedicated to the memory of the master Sergio Cicognani, one of the leading figures behind the Modern Mosaics project.

Speakers: Amelia Tienghi, President of the Rotary Club, Ravenna; Fabio De Chirico, Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity and Urban Regeneration at MIBACT; Giovanni Bianchi, University of Padua; Claudio Spadoni, IBACN Executive Board; Enzo Dall’Ara, art critic; and Paola Babini, Academy of Fine Arts, Ravenna.
Councillor Elsa Signorino will open the proceedings to highlight how the ‘Modern Mosaics’ – a prestigious collection established under the guidance of Giuseppe Bovini, supported by Giulio Carlo Argan and Palma Bucarelli, and also thanks to the dedication and technical expertise of Ravenna’s master mosaicists – form the central and foundational core of the Museum of Art of the City of Ravenna’s Collection of Contemporary Mosaics.
That series of mosaics also marked the beginning of a new journey: with ever-increasing awareness and maturity, a group of young artists, trained in the school of those early masters, have succeeded in creating an ever-more-effective dialogue between a technique so steeped in tradition and the most contemporary trends and forms of art.

Study day organised by: CIDM – International Centre for Mosaic Documentation