The Consul General of Italy in New York is pleased to announce the opening of three exhibitions that celebrate the city of Venice. The opening reception will be on December 5th, from 6pm to 8pm, at the Consulate General of Italy, 690 Park Avenue, 10065, New York
Special partecipation of James Ivory who will be at the opening. He is the iconic movie director, producer, writer, author of “A room with a view”, “Maurice” and “What remains of the day” amongst others. Since ever a great admirer of Venice and Italy, he attended the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts discussing in 1957 a master degree’s thesis on “Venice: Themes and Variations”, a half-hour documentary on the beauties of the Italian city. Honorary member of Venetian Heritage, a not-for-profit organization part of the UNESCO Private Committees Program for the Safeguarding of Venice that supports artistic and intellectual initiatives between the U.S. and Italy.
Murano: Glass from the Olnick Spanu Collection
The exhibit features a selection of Murano glassworks dating from 1914 to 1933 and drawn exclusively from the Collection of Nancy Olnick and Giorgio Spanu at the Italian General Consulate in New York City. The Olnick Spanu Collection of hand-blown Murano glass is a breathtaking tribute to craft and design, color and light, featuring over 500 hand-blown works from the 20th and 21st century and it includes artists such as Artisti Barovier, Fulvio Bianconi, Napoleone Martinuzzi, Carlo Scarpa, Ettore Sottsass, Archimede Seguso, Lino Tagliapietra, Paolo Venini and Massimo Vignelli. The Olnick Spanu Collection of Murano Glass achieved international prominence through a major exhibition devoted to almost three hundred works chosen from their comprehensive collection of over five hundred pieces.
Mariano Fortuny: A Living Legacy
More than a century old, Fortuny remains the highly esteemed Venetian textile company founded by noted artist, inventor, textile and fashion designer, Mariano Fortuny. Under management of the Riad family for nearly 30 years, Fortuny is infused with the spirit of its founder. Every Fortuny fabric is still produced in the same factory, on the same machines, using the same secret process and techniques handed down from generation to generation for a century. Just as Mariano Fortuny used his love for the past and respect for tradition to inspire his creativity, today Fortuny continues to be a pioneer in the world of design and technology.
A picture from “The beautiful cliché – Venezia”
The acclaimed beauty of Venice is perhaps among the best known and most distinguishing features of the city. Renato D’Agostin’s work explores possibilities of a different sort: it unveils the best known architectural sites of Venice, such as St Mark’s Square, by making them the object of a striking primary analysis, whereby the outlines of the architectural volumes fade away without losing their weight; space is made the object of endless interpretations, yet all reflecting the author’s vision; the details of the buildings necessarily point to the whole structures; the lagoon horizon is traced by the ideal profiles of the islands and by the dots of the mooring posts, without being conditioned by them. Today Renato D’Agostin is immortalizing fractions of time in his Venice, imprinting a gaze sprung from the city itself upon its hist
