An idea of painting. Analytic abstraction in Italy 1972-1976

March 1 – June 3, 2015

This exhibition, curated by Vania Gransinigh and Fabio Belloni, set out to explore the development of abstract painting in Italy during the early to mid-seventies and, more specifically, the artistic tendency that contemporary critics alternately dubbed: "painting painting", "fundamental painting", "cold painting", "pure painting" and "new painting” before finally opting for the term “analytical abstraction”.

The Italian experience of analytical abstraction took inspiration from the avant-garde, which was eager to explore the possibilities of painting – a somewhat traditional medium – in an era that was still dominated by intense technical experimentation. The exhibits were drawn from a number of the city’s public collections, and of the hundred or so works belonging to the Friam Collection on show at Casa Cavazzini, several names stand out: Carl Andre, Frank Stella, Robert Mangold, and Sol LeWitt being just a few of the international figures with whom Italian painters of the seventies sought direct contact