From Saturday 23rd November to Sunday 1st December, the centre of Milan will be studded with events dedicated to art, and drawing in particular. In fact, the fourth edition of Milano Drawing Week will take place, organised by Collezione Ramo, which will present a 13-stage exhibition of modern and contemporary drawing. We met the curator Irina Zucca Alessandrelli to find out more.
How did Milano Drawing Week come about?
Milano Drawing Week, now in its fourth edition, was born with the idea of giving importance to drawing, understood as any technique on paper, as defined by the museum.
The formula envisages that the Ramo Collection of 20th century Italian drawing – of which I have been the curator for eleven years – opens to the city, making a selection of its seven hundred works on paper available to cultural institutions and galleries. Contemporary artists, active in the field of drawing, are selected by me and invited to choose a work from the Ramo Collection, to be placed in dialogue with their own research within one of the spaces involved. The aim is to bring the great historical and artistic heritage of the last century into dialogue with current research, while also offering the public an opportunity to delve into a little-visible medium that can speak with immediacy and authenticity like no other expressive medium.
Can you briefly tell us the history of the Ramo Collection?
The Ramo Collection that I helped create, taking care of acquisitions, is eleven years old. In building it, we have selected the best draughtsmen from the Italian art movements of the last century and great talents from outside the chorus. The intention is to document with works on paper – not only drawings, therefore, but works on paper (watercolours, collages, gouaches, pastels) – the richness of this artistic practice from the 20th century to the contemporary. The aim of the collection is to present the great importance of Italian art in creating a culture of drawing, of independent value, on a par with painting and sculpture.
The Ramo Collection made its first public appearance in November 2018 at the Museo del Novecento in Milan with the exhibition ‘Who’s Afraid of Drawing?’, which travelled to the Estorick Collection in London in April 2019.
The major exhibition ‘Silent Revolutions. Italian Drawings of the 20th Century’ at the Menil Drawing Institute in Houston, Texas marked the first presentation of a private collection of Italian drawing in an American museum.
The Ramo Collection is published in my book ‘Italian Drawings of the 20th Century’ (Silvana ed. Milan, 2018).
What are the important new features of the fourth edition of Milano Drawing Week?
We have renewed the collaboration with the Gabinetto dei Disegni del Castello Sforzesco and we have involved the Cittadella degli Archivi of the City of Milan and Casa degli Artisti for the first time. The Citadel of Archives will host the group show Political Attitude. Artists of Latin America from the Paulo Bruscky Archive exhibited in Italy for the first time and curated by Jacopo Crivelli Visconti in 2023 at the IAC in São Paulo. The exhibition presents works that escaped the censorship of Latin American dictatorships and were collected in the Brazilian artist’s postal art archive. While the Casa degli Artisti hosts the exhibition Carta Rampante e Attrezzo Disegnante by Manuel Scano Larrazàbal: a large installation that includes a giant rotating drawing and a machine that draws in real time with suspended markers, produced and curated by Collezione Ramo.
Another new feature of this edition is the exhibition I curated at the Settantaventidue space, the new hub on the Navigli dedicated to sound art, art publishing and architecture. I will present the work of the young artist, not yet represented by a gallery, Marco Paleari, in dialogue with the work of the master of nuclear art Enrico Baj, whom he has chosen.
Last but not least is the programme of workshops for adults and children that will be held at Casa degli Artisti with Manuel Scano Larrazàbal, Casa Platform with Martina Zena and at the Ceramica Sant’Agostino showroom with Monika Dattner.
What are the unmissable appointments?
The thirteen exhibitions around the city are all interesting and very enjoyable and allow you to get to know new places for art in the city that you may not be used to entering.
Any anticipations regarding future projects?
Stay tuned to Collezione Ramo and Milano Drawing Week, we are already making plans for next year.
DIDASCALIE
Cover: Logo Milano Drawing Week
Photo 1: Piero Manzoni, Untitled (Impronta), 1960, ink on paper applied to cardboard, 27.6 x 24.9 cm. Courtesy Collezione Ramo, Milan
Photo 2: Monia Ben Hamouda, Rage moving through generations (97), 2024, charcoal, pastels and oil pastels on ivory paper, 29.7 x 21 cm.
Photo 3: Sergio Breviario, Stick of the Two Worlds, 2024, graphite, collage of digital prints, egg tempera on micaceous paper, 102 x 73 cm
Photo 4: Marco Paleari, Battle of Heraclius and Cosroé, 2024, graphite on paper, 70 x 100 cm
Photo 5: Enrico Baj, Untitled, study for The Birth of the Gods, 1986, graphite pencil and pen on paper, 33.4 x 32.9 cm. Courtesy Collezione Ramo, Milan
Photo 6: Giulia Dall’Olio, g 19][432 d, 2024, charcoal on paper, 65×50 cm
Photo 7: Alexandra Barth, Notabilia III (var. 5/6), 2018, enamel on paper, 29.7 x 21 cm
Photo 8: Corydon Cowansage, Blue, Red, Pink, 2024, acrylic on paper, 24 x 24 cm, Courtesy the artist and kaufmann repetto Milan/New York, Photo by Olivia Divecchia
Photo 9: Tom Friedman, 3 Stooges, 2024, A4 sheets of paper and pins, 66.68 x 31.75 x 5.08 cm. Courtesy the artist and Vistamare Milan/Pescara
