Piero Sadun. Genesis of an artist 1938-1948

In Siena works of Piero Sadun, a great artist and hero of freedom

From 04 September 2015 to 10 January 2016

From 4 September 2015 to 10 January 2016, the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena is showing 'Piero Sadun. Genesis of an artist 1938-1948'. An exciting exhibition dedicated to the debut of the great Siena artist and his troubled Jewish and Partisan history in the difficult period of the Resistance.

With this touching exhibition at the Art National Gallery of Siena, the city pays homage to its illustrious citizen 40 years after his death, and on the 70th Anniversary of Italian Liberation. Piero Sadun is remembered not only as a talented painter but also as a man of courage, willing to endanger his life to maintain the integrity of his freedom.

The exhibition of Piero Sadun - as part of Siena events - highlights his early beginnings during the tragic events that occurred between 1938 and 1948, during which he became established as a versatile and original artist before joining the group of 'Four Artists out of the way'- as the art critic Cesare Brandi liked to call them - and taking his first steps in the abstractionism of the fifties, and in the so-called Cubism and Informal Art.

The 50 works of Piero Sadun on display in the national picture gallery in Siena, not only fully reflect the peculiarities of the figurative period to which they belong - with a marked chromaticism and a stroke that is almost magical - but bring out a unique picture of the life of the young painter who was severely persecuted because he belonged to the Jewish community. He was expelled from high school according to the racial laws in force at the time. He was forced to become a clandestine and became an Italian Resistance hero and a partisan with the Italian troops in the hills of Arezzo. It was a really difficult life for Piero Sadun, the protagonist of the current exhibition at the National Art Gallery in Siena.

The exhibition of 'Piero Sadun. Genesis of an artist 1938-1948' begins with' The landscape at sunset', one of the first works by the artist depicting the Tuscan hills. The simple but marked geometries that remind one of Giorgio Morandi, the extremely dense brushstrokes that characterize his work  of monochromes and the choice of subjects such as the countryside or the face of a friend, bring to light some glimpses of the everyday life of Piero Sadun.
A curiosity about this artwork: created in 1938, this painting also opened the retrospective exhibition dedicated to the great Siena artist which was held at Palazzo Barberini in Rome in 1976 and Siena in 1977.

Among the works of Piero Sadun on display, there are some signed by T. Duna: do not worry, you are not visiting the wrong exhibition, this is the pseudonym that Piero Sadun used to sign some of his work, such as the portraits of Mario Bracci's family, who was the only university teacher not belonging to the National Fascist Party and strove to be his patron, or that of film critic and writer Mario Verdone, father of the actor and now also director Carlo.

And here we come to the section of the exhibition dedicated to the 'Drawings of Resistance' made by Piero Sadun during the partisan struggle which he called 'nightmare documents'.
It was for the childhood friend Mario Verdone that Piero Sadun illustrated, with his original designs, 'Man City', a short prose poem, printed in 1941. The exhibition in the Pinacoteca of Siena, Italy presents one created in 1940 and entitled 'Road of Siena', in which the dramatic atmosphere seems to herald the artistic breakthrough of the Tuscan painter.
The 'Drawings of Resistance', until now have been unknown to the public, and will be displayed next to the text written by Piero Sadun on the 20th anniversary of the Liberation of Arezzo entitled 'Fortuna'.

The last section of 'Piero Sadun. Genesis of an artist 1938-1948' - one of the most interesting events in Siena in 2015 - shows the works dedicated to Don Luigi Rosadini, at the time the priest of the Vignano church who, in 1943, risked his own life to accompany Piero Sadun by bicycle disguised as a priest, to Arezzo, giving him the opportunity to join the Partisans. This heroic gesture allowed Don Rosadini to become part of the Righteous Among the Nations.
The moving portraits of Don Luigi, together with the 'Facade of the Cathedral of Siena', the 'The Interior of the room', and the 'Portrait of Gabriella' and the two versions of 'Bombed Station' close the exhibition and mark the passage of this great artist in the world of expressionism.

Do not miss' Piero Sadun. Genesis of an artist 1938-1948' in Siena, curated by Maria Mangiavacchi and Anna Maria Guiducci and produced in collaboration with Anna Di Castro, who has been entrusted with the important task of reconstruction of that period.
Included in the calendar of October events in Siena organized to celebrate the 16th European Day of Jewish Culture, of which Florence will be the leader, the exhibition of Piero Sadun at the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena will be open until 10 January 2016. Do not miss it!

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Exhibitions in Florence 2015 present 'Piero Sadun. Genesis of an artist 1938-1948'

Location: Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena

Dates: from 4 September 2015 to 10 January 2016