Based on a project by Nicola Spinosa, the Museum aims to document, through a selection performed with the historical-critical method, the artistic production in Naples during the specified period of the 1900s; in particular, the production of the artists who were applying themselves mainly, if not solely, to painting, sculpture and different types of experiments in graphic work. The aim is for the collection to become an essential tool, so far notable for its absence in Naples. Just as other aspects and periods of the earlier artistic cycle are documented in various museums in Naples, its function is to adequately highlight, among other things, artistic tendencies and choices, roles and impacts in the wider field of the different experiments conducted during the past century in other local, national and international cultural ambits.

The new museum comprises 170 artworks, created by 90 Neapolitan artists, as well as by a few non-Neapolitan artists who were active in the city in different ways. Like other similar institutions, the museum is run by the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali e dalla Soprintendenza Speciale per il Patrimonio Storico, Artistico, Etnoantropologico e per il Polo Museale della città di Napoli, and has intentionally and significantly been set in the premises of the Carcere Alto (the High Prison) of Castel Sant'Elmo, adjacent to the History of Art Library and Photo Library, which are open to the public.
It is a noteworthy core of paintings, sculptures, drawings and etchings totally comprised of works from the collections of the Soprintendenza, the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna di Roma, the Museo d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto and, above all, of donations or free loans from generous artists and private collectors, a practice that is becoming increasingly popular in Italy and has been for a while abroad. With the plan and the hope that this is only an initial core that will grow in the coming years, so as to document other, different and subsequent aspects of the work of Neapolitan and other artists from the last century, for whom at present we have decided to suspend any critical judgement not based on essential historical grounds.
The choice of the artists and of the works has been curated by Angela Tecce, Director of the Castel Sant'Elmo complex, with the assiduous collaboration of Nicola Spinosa. The Museum owes its realization to the direct involvement of the Regione Campania-Assessorato al Turismo e Assessorato ai Beni Culturali in the project and to the use of funds made available thanks to the co-funding by the European Union POR-FESR Campania 2007-2013.
The informational, educational, and audiovisual aids have been realized with the support of the Direzione Generale per il Paesaggio, le Belle Arti, l'Architettura e l'Arte Contemporanee on behalf of the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, with the contribution of Italcoat, Metropolitana di Napoli, Seda Group.

'Novecento a Napoli' covers a timeline divided into different sections: from the documentation relating to the Secessione dei ventitré (1909) or of the first Futurism in Naples (1910-1914) to the movement of the Circumvisionisti and of the second Futurism (20s-30s). From the work what was produced between the two wars to the experiences that took place during the second post-war period (1948-1958), including the Gruppo 'Sud' the so-called Neorealism, the M.A.C., the Informale the Gruppo '58. These are followed by sections dedicated to the Seventies, with particular reference to, among others, the Poetic-Visual Experimentations and the activities of the groups connected with experiences in the social field. Up to the last section, which shows the activities of those who, although still working after 1980 experimenting with different languages, had already made a name for themselves in the city during that decade, before the terrible earthquake of November 23rd 1980, which deeply affected the realities and perspectives of Naples and other southern areas.

The artists whose works are exhibited are: Carlo Alfano, Enrico Baj, Mathelda Balatresi, Renato Barisani, Guido Biasi, Andrea Bizanzio, Giovanni Brancaccio, Giannetto Bravi, Emilio Buccafusca, Enrico Bugli, Francesco Cangiullo, Giuseppe Capogrossi, Luciano Caruso, Guido Casciaro, Giuseppe Casciaro, Luigi Castellano (Luca), Raffaele Castello, Alberto Chiancone, Vincenzo Ciardo, Francesco Clemente, Carlo Cocchia, Mario Colucci, Mario Cortiello, Salvatore Cotugno, Luigi Crisconio, Edgardo Curcio, Renato De Fusco, Lucio del Pezzo, Crescenzo Del Vecchio Berlingieri, Armando De Stefano, Gianni De Tora, Fortunato Depero, Giuseppe Desiato, Bruno Di Bello, Gerardo Di Fiore, Carmine Di Ruggiero, Baldo Diodato, Salvatore Emblema, Francesco Galante, Saverio Gatto, Vincenzo Gemito, Manlio Giarrizzo, Edoardo Giordano (Buchicco), Franco Girosi, Emilio Greco, Raffaele Lippi, Nino Longobardi, Luigi Mainolfi, Antonio Mancini, Giuseppe Maraniello, Tommaso Marinetti, Stelio Maria Martini, Umberto Mastroianni, Rosaria Matarese, Elio Mazzella, Luigi Mazzella, Emilio Notte, Mimmo Paladino, Maria Palliggiano, Franco Palumbo, Rosa Panaro, Edoardo Pansini, Guglielmo Peirce, Augusto Perez, Mario Persico, Giuseppe Pirozzi, Gianni Pisani, Carmine Rezzuti, Clara Rezzuti, Paolo Ricci, Guglielmo Roehrssen di Cammarata, Errico Ruotolo, Corrado Russo, Mimma Russo, Quintino Scolavino, Domenico Spinosa, Bruno Starita, Federico Starnone, Tony Stefanucci, Guido Tatafiore, Ernesto Tatafiore, Giovanni Tizzano, Ennio Tomai, Raffaele Uccella, Maurizio Valenzi, Antonio Venditti, Gennaro Villani, Eugenio Viti, Elio Waschimps and Natalino Zullo.


There is a catalogue published by Electa, with presentations by Antonio Bassolino, Presidente della Giunta Regionale, Roberto Cecchi, Direttore Generale per il Paesaggio, le Belle Arti, l'Architettura e l'Arte Contemporanee, and Lorenza Mochi Onori, Soprintendente; a preface by Nicola Spinosa, an introduction by Angela Tecce, Director of the Museum, and critical essays by Maria Antonietta Picone Petrusa, Angela Tecce, Mario Franco and Aurora Spinosa, Katia Fiorentino.

Organizzazione Civita

Teaching activities: Le Nuvole\Pierreci\Progetto Museo
Video by Mario Franco

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