IN THE FLAP OF A WING
Laura Aliprandi e Sara Sist


“Sometimes we see a cloud that’s dragonish;
A vapour sometime like a bear or lion,
A tower’d citadel, a pendant rock,
A forked mountain, or blue promontory
With trees upon’t”.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Anthony and Cleopatra


Less than one year passed from the idea being conceived to organize a competition for artists to it actually becoming a reality. During a dinner at La Colomba restaurant with Dott. Cazzavillan whilst admiring the works of art that adorn the walls of his restaurant we start to put together a plan.

For over 60 years the restaurant La Colomba has been a meeting place for artists and home of the first prize for painting in post-war Italy in 1946. The rooms of this restaurant have hosted the leading painters in Italian and European art, such as: Carrà, Morandi, De Pisis, Sironi, De Chirico, Picasso, and many others.

I remember that one work in particular had attracted my attention. It was a piece by Campigli, his women drawn in black and white on a page of a newspaper of the era. The brush strokes were sketch like and simple. Discussing the history of the restaurant with its current own Lino Cazzavillan the idea began to take shape in our minds. The uniqueness of the prize comes from the simplicity of the idea: a menu created by artists.

Such an idea can only come about during a conversation over dinner, where the theme of the discussion was art, artists, and the destiny of fine artists today. Just as it was 50 years ago – the life of an artist is most difficult today.

The history and role played by the Colomba restaurant in the artistic community of post-war italy is highly significant. A key authority on this subject is the author Katia Toso, whose thesis, entitled “Arturo Deana: dealer and collector in Venice from the 1930s to the 1950s” (1996-97 University of Udine) is perhaps the only written work in existence on the life and history of the Colomba restaurant. We were most fortunate to meet with Signora Toso and ask for her to make a key written contribution to the Colomba Art Prize catalogue. Without her precious help we would not have been aware of the vicissitudes of a restaurant that has had such a great influence on the creation of art in Venice. The Colomba was a place not only for artists to meet but was a meeting-place similarly for critics and collectors in the post-war era. Today the artistic situation has changed somewhat in Venice just as have the methods of creating art works. Both artists and collectors tend also to frequent different places today.

But the history of the Colomba prize remains.

It has been a great challenge and effort to organize this latest edition of the Colomba Art prize however it would most certainly never have been possible without the support of Dr. Cazzavillan. The organizational challenge of bringing to life again the international art prize was made additionally difficult by the illustrious past of the prize. We have chosen to present the Colomba prize in its original form dating from 1953.

The number of artists who have participated has been noteworthy and vastly exceeded our expectation. Artists from all over the world, for example, Chile, Canada, China, The U.S.A., Mexico, Indonesia, Japan, Argentina, Bulgaria and Israel. Some of the participants experienced problems, which we couldn’t even imagine, such as one particular artist from Israel who had great difficulty in shipping her artwork to Italy due to internal conflict within Israel itself. Another Palestine artist met with exactly the same problem.

Many artists consigned pieces in all manner of different mediums: from glassworks, to paintings on canvas, digital photos, plastic, watercolour, oil on wood, even a painted wooden board inserted into a casserole dish (this particular piece was intended by the artist to link fine art with fine cuisine). This sort of idealistic duality was explored by a large part of the participants. Works that made use of the objects and the reality of daily life and then transformed them into some form of symbolic meaning. Forks, tablecloths, plastic plates and cups.

Then, of course, doves: doves represented in honorific, symbolist, Cubist, surrealist forms. Sketches of Doves in the manner of eclectic Zen painters, expressionist doves, fauvist doves. Some hand embroidered doves, doves reduced to their most simple geometric forms. Wooden doves, doves constructed from the most subtle glass threads, and doves made from sugar paper and grains of rice.

The task of the jury has not been simple, it never is. The winners were decided only after long discussions, which nearly always took place in the Colomba restaurant, a silent witness to over fifty years of Venetian artistic life.

Reaching a verdict was only made possible through jury President, Saverio Simi de Burgis along with the precious support of Riccardo Caldura, Guido Cazzavillan, Cristina Alaimo, Elena Agudio and Jean Blanchaert, along with two nominated members of the Consiglio della Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa: Stefano Coletto and Marco Ferraris. A special thank you should also be mentioned for Philippe Daverio, advisor to the jury.

Each member of the jury has been very important and deserves a special thank you, not only for the achievement of reaching a final decision but also for the subsequent organisation of an exhibition and written catalogue (this years catalogue is the first written testimony to the existence of the Colomba Art prize). The catalogue documents a selection of underground art produced by a talented group of mostly young individuals.

This last year has passed by very quickly, like the flapping of a wing.


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