ARTE CONTEMPORANEA 2

Collezione permanenete
1984 – 2024

Curated by Veronica Zanardi

With the opening of its new exhibition space, the Museo Butti | Contemporanea has experienced a revival of its exhibition activities over the past year: last September saw the opening of a solo show by painter Mario Raciti—with a catalogue featuring a critical essay by Sandro Parmiggiani—followed by the exhibition dedicated to Arcangelo—with catalogue text curated by Roberto Gramiccia—and then, reaffirming the collaboration with the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, which has shaped and characterized the Museum’s history since its founding, the exhibition Dialoghi presented works created by students from the School of Painting.

The exhibition CONTEMPORARY ART 2 – Permanent Collection now aims to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Museum’s founding, established in 1984 by curator Gottardo Ortelli, who had already begun presenting exhibitions in these spaces since 1977, albeit not yet within a formal museum context. The painter’s intention was to make art known in Viggiù and the art of Viggiù—its millennia-old artistic tradition, rich in events of great value. The Museo Butti showcases only a tiny portion of what this legacy has left to the world, and yet it strives to continue participating in and actively contributing to the contemporary art scene, reviving itself in the present and becoming a driver of new artistic journeys.

The formation of the core of the Contemporary Art Collection, first exhibited in the 1992 show Contemporary Art 1: Acquisitions and Donations, curated by Gottardo Ortelli, saw significant growth thanks to the generosity of artists and friends-supporters of the Museum, who donated their works as a tangible sign of support for the cultural direction pursued to this day.

The exhibition record of the Museum, Ortelli writes, is of the highest caliber—we feel confident in stating this without false modesty—worthy of inspiring envy in larger institutions. We have presented, including in the field of contemporary art, exhibitions of great quality—some of them memorable—dedicated to artists of undisputed value and stature, but we have also succeeded in timely recognizing the emergence of new artistic figures who later received wider acclaim, as well as in reviving interest in artists who, though somewhat removed from the spotlight, produced significant works.

Thus, to celebrate this important anniversary, a significant selection of works is on view—what truly constitutes the Museum’s precious artistic heritage. The exhibition features works by:

Arcangelo, Rosalda Giraldi Bernocchi, Floriano Bodini, Maurizio Bottarelli, Italo Bressan, Alessandra Buzzi, Ignazio Campagna, Nino Cassani, Italo Chiodi, Emilio Corti, Luigi Crippa, Sandro De Alexandris, Misia De Angelis, Beppe Devalle, Piermario Dorigatti, Alex Fieschi, Attilio Forgioli, Marco Grimaldi, Igino Legnaghi, Gesina, Luigi Mainolfi, Giuseppe Maraniello, Giancarlo Marchesi, Feranco Marrocco, Franco Meneguzzo, Paolo Minoli, Bruno Munari, Ayako Nakamiya, Claudio Olivieri, Gottardo Ortelli, Pietro Pasquali, Giancarlo Pozzi, Mario Raciti, Rossella Rapetti, Gianni Robusti, Giancarlo Sangregorio, Tetsuro Shimizu, Ivo Soldini, Francesco Somaini, Elena Strada, Grazia Varisco, Luigi Veronesi, and Giorgio Vicentini.