For International Women’s Day, A Call to Artists and Institutions to Get Inspired by Uffizi Exhibition and Capture 'The Greatness of the Universe' in Art
- March 02, 2020 12:13
To usher in the Uffizi Galleries’ upcoming exhibition dedicated to a female Baroque painter, Advancing Women Artists (AWA) – with the support of the Uffizi Galleries and The Medici Archive Project – is launching an appeal to present-day artists and institutions around the world to create original works inspired by Giovanna Garzoni’s rich oeuvre.
In anticipation of International Women’s Day (March 8), as the world prepares to remember and recognize the achievements of women, Advancing Women Artists (AWA), with the support of the Uffizi Galleries and the Medici Archive Project, initiates a worldwide challenge spotlighting female creativity.
It is a call to today’s artists to use the art of Giovanna Garzoni (1600-1670) as a springboard to create their own original works. One of the most representative painters of the seventeenth century, Garzoni, will soon be the leading lady of a retrospective exhibition, "The Greatness of the Universe,"at the Pitti Palace, in Florence (beginning March 10). Cultural and educational institutions from all over the world are invited to take part in this ‘challenge’. As of today, a short teaser spotlighting the show is available for viewing on the websites and social media channels of the Uffizi, AWA and the Medici Archive Project.
A woman of her time, Giovanna Garzoni (1600-1670) exemplifies the seventeenth-century interest in scientific details and meticulous realism, but her ‘miniaturist’ eye focuses on a broader vision. Garzoni’s art brings together the cultures of England, Japan, Mexico, China and much more; in her luminous still life works, shells gathered on distant beaches are combined with precious blooms growing in the jungle. Luscious fruits picked in the front garden are matched with porcelain from the Far East. The artist captures ‘the Universe in a painting’, immortalizing artefacts from all over the globe whilst continuing to capture local specimens.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
From March 2 to April 8th, artists and institutions interested in participating can register by filling out a simple online form, providing basic information about their Women’s Day event (March is Women's History Month) and specifying the medium in which they will produce their original artwork. To participate and gain access to the exhibition trailer, please register here.
THE GARZONI CHALLENGE LIVE ON MARCH 9, AT THE INAUGURATION OF THE EXHIBITION
On March 9 the ‘challenge’ will be launched live, during the Press Conference/Inauguration of the Garzoni exhibition, in the Pitti Palace’s famed Sala Bianca. During the Florence event, the Galleries’ director Eike Schmidt will discuss the concept of the Uffizi as a ‘living museum’ and illustrate efforts made in recent years to highlight art by women. Exhibition curator Sheila Barker will give a brief presentation on the theme ‘The universe in a painting’ as related to Garzoni’s work, especially the works on display in this show. AWA Director Linda Falcone will ‘launch’ the challenge, with a variety of ‘photographed’ examples by selected local and international artists.
PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS
A growing list of 2020 participants from various ‘walks of knowledge’
The Italian Cultural Institute at the Italian Embassy in Washington DC, The Women's Art Library, part of Goldsmiths University of London’s Special Collections and Archives. University of Dublin Foundation for Italian Studies at the Newman Theatre with UCD Alumni Relations as part of the “BetterforBalance." University of Texas’ Rio Grande Valley School of Art in Edinburg, Texas. De La Salle Catholic College in Cronulla, Sydney, Australia. Ludington Area Arts Center in Ludington Michigan, Art History Department at Radboud in Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
WHO WAS GIOVANNA GARZONI?
During Garzoni’s 10-year stint in Florence, where she settled in 1642, the artist’s luminous still life works would enrich the collection of Grand Duke Ferdinando II and Grand Duchess Vittoria della Rovere. The latter would include a selection of Garzoni’s artwork in her Chamber of Curiosities at Poggio Imperiale. Previously considered inferior to ‘higher’ art forms such as history painting, the still life genre was rapidly gaining popularity, largely thanks to Garzoni’s watercolors and gouaches on vellum or parchment. Her innovative works abandoned the stiffness of symbolic Renaissance ‘flower paintings’ and reflected the burgeoning tastes of European courts, which sought the marriage of art and science. At a time when flower paintings were sold at markets throughout Europe for the price of a fresh bouquet, Garzoni could ask virtually any sum for her commissioned works, which comprised portraiture as well. Rather than being compensated with jewels and trinkets, like many of her female contemporaries, Garzoni was paid in cash and, by the time of her death, was a wealthy woman. In addition to enjoying extraordinary economic success, she travelled extensively, enjoying more freedom than most women of her age – practicing her profession in Rome, Naples and Turin as well as further afield in France and England. The meticulous records Garzoni kept of her numerous works – another rarity for art by an early woman artist – are kept at the Accademia di San Luca in Rome, where she was granted membership in the 1630s.
