Kunstsammlung NRW
Prof. Bruno Corà, Foto: Andreas Endermann
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3 Questions for... Professor Bruno Corà

On the occasion of the opening of the exhibition "Alberto Burri: The Trauma of Painting" at the K21 Ständehaus, Gerd Korinthenberg met with the President of the Fondazione Palazzo Albizzini Collezione Burri. The exhibition, organized in collaboration with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation to mark the Italian artist's 100th birthday, presents circa 70 works by a creative figure who is still too little-known in Germany.

 

My dear Professor Corà, could you please summarize in just a few words the key aspects of this appreciation of Alberto Burri during his centennial – and the role played here by the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen?

BC: Exhibitions and research projects, accompanied by conferences, publications, and restoration work have noticeably enhanced our familiarity with Burri and his artistic impact. In the coming months, the major retrospective "The Trauma of Painting" in New York, curated by Emily Braun, will be on view at this renowned German institution. It will number among the unforgettable events marking the artists hundredth birthday.

The "Long Year for Burri" – as it is referred to by the foundation – commenced at the Pinakothek in San Sepolcro in Italy with the exhibition "Burri and Piero della

Francesca" and will conclude at the Città di Castello with the show "Burri: lo Spazio di Materia tra Europa e U.S.A." (Burri: The Space of the Material Between Europe and the US). Numerous Italian cities – from Milan to Palermo, from Bologna to Pistoia, from Naples to Teramo, from Gibellina to Rende – have honored Burri's art with public initiatives. Meanwhile, his oeuvre has been recognized as one of the most important of the postwar era. The Fondazione Burri is delighted in particular with the exhibition that has opened at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf, the first show ever of the artist's work on this scale.

What is particularly significant for you about the work of this artist – who has been little-known in Germany up to this point? Works by Burri can be seen in just five German museums, among them the Kunstsammlung NRW:

BC: The revolutionary aspect of Burri's achievement is his use of materials. He wanted to create using authentic materials; it's not a question of an indirect depiction, instead, it's the material itself that is presented. This idea was taken up by a number of Italian artists, but in France as well, by the Nouveaux Realistes, for example Arman.

And how will the "Long Year for Burri," as you have named it, continue now, Professor Corá?

BC: At the Fondazione, we are in the process of preparing an exhibition that will open in autumn. Through the show, we want to underscore Burri's role as an artist not just in the US, but in Italy as well. It is a question of the significance of the poetry of the materials, and of his influence on the inception of Arte Povera!