Art Show by Isabella Ducrot Opens at Villa San Michele April 6
Villa San Michele inaugurates the cultural season 2023 Thursday April 6 at 6 pm, with an exhibition by the internationally acclaimed Italian artist Isabella Ducrot in the garden pavilion Olivetum. Her series of 12 works called Bella Terra, will be shown until May 14.The exhibition shows the gradual transformation of Villa San Michele into a dynamic contemporary cultural institution.
”Axel Munthe, who donated this amazing property to the Swedish state in his will in 1949, wrote that the Villa should build cultural bridges between Sweden and Italy. We want to live up to that goal”, says Kristina Kappelin, director of Villa San Michele.
The 12 china ink paintings by Isabella Ducrot on China paper, all show the same landscape with a tree, the moon, a piece of land, mountains and the sea.
”The tree is repeated in a cycle, like the seasons. The repetition of a theme can be found in music, in prayers, and in patterns of everyday cloths. Repetition becomes a motive in itself. Although the motive is the same, there is endless variation, like in a familiar landscape changing with the hour and the season. In some paintings, the leaves are brown, in others the tree bears fruit, evoking regeneration and rebirth”, writes Magnus af Petersens, the curator of the exhibition.
Isabella Ducrot, born in Naples in 1931, has been living in Rome for many years. She is most known for her use of woven textiles of all sorts. She is especially drawn to vernacular with simple patterns. Ducrot has written about how the interlocking of fibers in a weave makes it strong and she considers it an ideal and a metaphor for society, and a structure for thinking. The pliable softness of cloth is also found in her work on China paper that is used for the series Bella Terra.
The exhibition at Villa San Michele is made possible by a loan from the prestigious German gallery Gisela Capitain in Köln and Belenius in Stockholm, and with the generous support from Birgitta and Conni Jonsson.
Bella Terra enriches the visit to Villa San Michele up until May 14. From May 20, Olivetum will make room for an art show by the Swedish aquarelle painter Peter Sternäng.
Isabella Ducrot, Bella Terra
Villa San Michele Anacapri
April 6 - May 14 2023
Vernissage April 6 at 6 pm
Curator: Magnus af Petersens
Courtesy Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne
Thank you to Belenius, Stoccolma
photo credit: Marieke Tocha
The title of the paintings in the order they appear:
Bella Terra XXXIII
Bella Terra XLII
Bella Terra XXXVI
For information at Villa San Michele:
Kristina Kappelin e Luca Grossi: +39 081 837 14 01