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Istituto piemontese per la storia della Resistenza e della società contemporanea 'Giorgio Agosti'
Germano
Facetti
Works
by Germano Facetti and his 22.000 images archive will
be presented at a conference
in Turin on September 27th, and in an exhibition to begin
in La Spezia on September 29th, later moving to Milan
and Turin. The archive is now part of Istituto piemontese
per la storia della Resistenza e della società contemporanea “Giorgio
Agosti”.
An admired artist, renown in the international world
of graphics, a free and shy man, Germano Facetti (1926-2006)
had a great influence on all who met him in various circumstances
of work and life.
In England, where he worked from 1950 to 1972, Facetti
played a major role as original and innovative graphic
artist; In fact, he is the artistic director responsible
for re-shaping the image of Penguin books. After his
return to Italy and particularly after retirement in
the hills behind Sarzana with wife Mary Crittall, his
personality and history continued to exercise a powerful
attraction on those who approached him. Friends spent
time at his house listening to his testimony and sharing
his company. Movies, short stories (including La ragione
dei sentimenti by Paolo Crepet) and interviews (many
of which will be shown at the conference for the first
time) arose from those encounters.
At 17, Facetti was deported to Mauthausen-Gusen for anti-fascist
activity. He survived the camp and gained some unique
war booty, the photographs and documents he collected
among the personal belongings of the Germans on the run.
Facetti kept them as incontrovertible evidence of the
horrors experienced in the camp. That collection was
the beginning of an extraordinary archive of images mostly
related to war and violence in contemporary societies.
Facetti classified and expanded the collection throughout
his life, far beyond the needs of a mere professional
interest.
The
conference
Per To inform public and scholars about Germano Facetti,
and to provide a preview of some of the vast heritage he
left, a conference has been organized on 27 September 2006
by Istituto Piemontese per la storia della Resistenza, with
the support of Fondazione Memoria della Deportazione and
ANED, The conference, entitled Facetti: the man, the artist,
the archive will be held at Museo Diffuso della Resistenza,
della Deportazione, della Guerra, dei Diritti e della Libertà,
in Corso Valdocco 4A, Turin.
The
conference will open at 10,00 a.m. with reminiscences of
some of his
friends – Senator Gianfranco Maris,
National President of ANED, architects Franco Berlanda and
Luisa Castiglioni Deichmann, actor Giuseppe Cederna –,
and will close with the testimony of Facetti’s daughter
Lucia and the projection The yellow box (1997), a film directed
by Tony West, and presented by the director himself.
In
the afternoon (3,00 p.m) various speakers will examine
the
considerable collection of images: Luciano Boccalatte
and Andrea D’Arrigo (archivists of the Istituto), Giovanni
De Luna (historian), Gianluigi Ricuperati (journalist and
writer) and Gianfranco Torri (graphic artist). Interviews
filmed by Giuseppe Baresi and Giuseppe Cederna, showing Facetti’s
house crammed with books and file records, will suggest that
there is a symbiosis between the man and his collection.
“Victoria etcetera” shot by Facetti and Paolo Gori in 1971 will then
be shown. “Victoria” is a sharp reportage on the pomposity of Imperial
London versus human degradation in the docks. Carlotta Fontana of the Milan Politecnico,
will comment the movie.
The conference will then focus on evidence from the Lager,
as recorded in the sketchbook Facetti and Lodovico Belgioioso
shared at Mauthausen. The sketchbook is the theme of an exhibition
that will open on 29 September in La Spezia, presented here
by its creators. Finally, Facetti and his friend Aurelio
Sioli will appear in the video Antiutopia. Mauthausen-Gusen
1944-1945, edited by Paolo Ranieri and Maurizio Fiorillo,
and based on interviews by historian Francesca Pelini.
Information on all initiatives connected to the Facetti
Foundation is available at www.istoreto.it. A Committee of
Guarantors has been formed, and a trust is available for
donations from friends and institutions, aiming at preserving
and enhancing the artistic, scientific and educational value
of the archive.
The
exhibition
By Marzia Ratti and Luigi Piarulli.
The
exhibition “Non mi avrete. Disegni da Mauthausen
e Gusen. La testimonianza di Germano Facetti e Lodovico Belgiojoso” (You
won’t have me. Drwings from Mauthausen-Gusen. The testimony
of Germano Facetti and Lodovico Belgiojoso) will open on
Friday, 29 September 2006 at 6,00 p.m. in La Spezia (Palazzina
delle Arti Via del Prione 236 )
The exhibition will stay in La Spezia until November 30th.
It will then move to Milan (Fondazione Memoria della Deportazione)
and Turin (Museo Diffuso).
Germano Facetti is well-known for his work as artistic director
at Penguin Books from 1960 to 1972 and, before that, as graphic
at the Milanese architectural firm BBPR (Belgiojoso, Banfi,
Peressuti, Rogers). Facetti spent the rest of his life in
the hills behind Sarzana (La Spezia), where he died on April
8th 2006.
Facetti was arrested in autumn 1943 for political reasons,
and deported to Mauthausen – Gusen camps (February
1944 – May 1945). There, despite the horrible experience,
he cultivated a fraternal friendship with Lodovico Barbiano
di Belgiojoso, the famous Milanese architect (Torre Velasca).
In the camps, Facetti and Belgiojoso wrote information and
drew sketches of their experience, using scraps of paper
and pencils stolen from the camp offices. Facetti kept them
and, once released, he started collecting information, pictures
and documents he found in the uniforms left by the Germans.
That is the origin of an impressive iconographic archive,
recently acquired by Istituto Piemontese della Storia della
Resistenza e della Società Contemporanea..
Facetti’s sketchbook is the object of the exhibition
in La Spezia. His original work will be displayed on individual
panels conceived by Facetti himself; every picture will be
completed by captions taken from the protagonists’ memories
and other historical and literary sources from the camp.
Germano Facetti wanted these painful memories to become public
in order to reaffirm the truth, contrast historical revisionism,
and fight mystification.
The
exhibition is organized by the Istituzione per i Servizi
Culturali
del Comune della Spezia, the Istituto Piemontese
per la Storia della Resistenza e della Società Contemporanea
di Torino, and the Museo Diffuso di Torino. It is supported
by Compagnia di San Paolo, Regione Liguria and Fondazione
Memoria della Deportazione di Milano.
Members of the Organizing Committee are Francesco della
Porta (Milan), Ersilia Alessandrone Perona (Turin), and Luigi
Piarulli (La Spezia).
The
catalogue by Marzia Ratti, published by Silvana Editoriale
includes
texts by Paolo Crepet, Francesco Della Porta, Ersilia
Alessandrone Perona, Andrea D’Arrigo, Luigi Piarulli,
Mario Piazza and Marzia Ratti. Two films complement the exhibition:
The yellow box. A short History of Hate (1997) by Antony
West, and Antiutopia, Mauthausen-Gusen 1944-1944, expressly
shot for the occasion by Paolo Ranieri, Francesca Pelini,
Vinicio Bordin and Maurizio Fiorillo.
The exhibition was designed by Germano Facetti, Luigi Piarulli
and Marzia Ratti, and is supervised by Marzia Ratti and Luigi
Piarulli.The catalogue is by Marzia Ratti.
Fist edition: La Spezia, Palazzina delle Arti- Via Prione
236
Period: 30 September – 30 Novembre 2006
Opening hours: from Monday to Sunday 10 a.m.-noon and 4-7
p.m., Tuesdays only in the morning, closed on Mondays.
Entrance: 3 €, 2 € reduced price . Free for schools.
Information: Tel. 0187 – 778544, palazzinaarti@laspeziacultura.it,
www.laspeziacultura.it
Chi
volesse iscriversi a una mailing list di persone particolarmente
interessate alle attività relative al Fondo Germano
Facetti può segnalarsi all’indirizzo info@istoreto.it
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