Roberto Capucci and Mariano Fortuny: art shapes and ideas

Mariano was painter, stage designer, inventor of lights and costumes, a true “shaman” of the printed fabric; Roberto is also an artist – architect, creator of convoluted shapes for his exhibition designs, his creations are weaved as clothes but thought as sculptures. Two cultivated and sophisticated artists able to navigate the world of fashion leaving the permanent signature of genius. The Foundation “Musei Civici di Venezia” pays tribute to Roberto Capucci with an extraordinary exhibition organized at Palazzo Fortuny, Mariano’s house and workshop. Thirty dresses/sculptures realized between 1978 and 2009, are able to describe this specific period of the Master’s development. From the famous Column dress, breaking point of his relationship with traditional tailoring, to the Fan dress a symbol for untamed creativity; we can also admire his creation from the Eighties, with decorations of all shapes and surfaces: flat, tubular, flower-shaped, squared or resembling capitals…- one of the most remarkable is Fuoco (Fire) with an explosion of volume and waves stretching aloft. His works from the Nineties are extraordinary and allow him to enter the art world participating at the 100th Venice Biennale (1995) and other shows in important museums worldwide. From more recent works we may admire Spire (coils), Onda (wave), Foglia (leaf), Linee (lines) Crete (clay) and opening the show the new wedding sculpture-dress, created on the occasion, made of fire red Mikado silk. Project partner is Vhernier, a creator of jewels with a striking artistic talent, exhibiting his works on the first floor of the museum. Unique pieces, crafted by goldsmith able to turn every conception into a masterpiece, Vhernier’s jewels converse with Capucci’s dresses. Palazzo Fortuny turns into a stage, where we can recognize the legacy of the first man who made art and fashion meet. An unexpected meeting of dresses and jewels, linked by the common search for shapes and colours, inspired by nature, art, geometry and architecture. Such elements also inspire the Spille Spirali (Spiral Pins) created by Vhernier on the occasion. The exhibition is made possible by the precious collaboration of Roberto Capucci Foundation, and the technical support of Bonaveri, Bolliger, Rado and Veneta Artigianale. The fabric for the red wedding gown was donated by Corsil Tessitura Serica, from Montorfano (CO). the show was curated by Daniela Ferretto, Enrico Minio and Milly Passigli, the catalogue is published by Skira with essays by Carlo Bertelli and Doretta Davanzo Poli. Infant prodigy of fashion, Capucci opens his first atelier at the age of twenty, in 1951. Thanks to his studies at the Art school first, and then at the Academy of Fine Arts, he learnt the history of Art as well as various plastic and painting techniques, drawing and design. The knowledge of art history endows him with cultural awareness and a broader point of view; while his other skills allow him to research and test new ways and attitudes. His ceaseless creative history is marked by recognitions and inventions, strongly shaped by research and formal experimentation. The works on show demonstrate the shift to the art world and the final stand reached in the last thirty years, together with his numerous sources of inspiration: the world of plants and fundamental elements such as water, fire, air and earth; physical phenomena and artistic allusions. So we can recognize pure colours like those of Beato Angelico; loose sleeves and luxurious trains as in Pisanello, Benozzo Gozzoli and Paolo Uccello; velvets and details similar to those found in the work of Carpaccio, Tiziano and Tintoretto; broad hips like in Velasquez; and Tiepolo, often openly homaged by Capucci. He draws inspiration also from the twentieth century, recovering novelty and influences through his own insight and culture. All of his production refers more than anything else the timeless human desire to overcome one’s limits: the creation of gigantic dresses, with asymmetrical elements, butterfly or bird’s wings, silky spurts, big tales… The natural shapes of the body are inundated in a god-like dimension where all material, physical and temporal needs are forgotten. It is in fact outside of time and trends that his work shows its amazing visual presence.