Lifestyle
In a feat of an exhibition about feet, artwork by Edgar Degas, Pablo Picasso and Paul Klee, Gino Severini and Fernand Léger, Georges Roualt and Alexander Calder, on loan from numerous prestigious museums including the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, have come together for “Equilibrium,” an exhibition by Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, opening June 18 in Florence.
Ferragamo may be a brand synonymous with fashionable shoes (which sometimes get a bad rep for being antagonistic to the anatomy of the foot), but its founder Salvatore Ferragamo devoted his life to the anatomical study of the plantar arch, considering not just style and comfort but much of architecture and engineering in his research.
Through science, art, architecture, archaeology, circus and dance, the exposition explores what it means to walk, and examines the function of the arch of the foot and the relationship between the foot and the mind, encompassing such themes as dancing barefoot or on tiptoe, crossing a tightrope, climbing a mountain, marching, meandering in search of oneself and, simply, traveling.
Ancient bronze and marble sculptures of feet and dancing figures will be displayed alongside videos by Bill Viola and Marina Abramovic; the geometric balancing acts of Wassily Kandinsky juxtaposed with the threadlike structures of Fausto Melotti; Albrecht Dürer’s Fortuna shown next to Giulio Paolini’s tightrope walker; Nijinsky’s portraits set off against Isadora Duncan’s; and Martha Graham’s work compared with that by Trisha Brown.
Other highlights include extraordinary archaeological findings, such as the Nike’s Foot in gilt bronze (which, found in the Forum of Augustus, dates back to Roman times) and the Relief of Dancing Maenads (from Museo di Scultura Antica Giovanni Barracco), while paintings by Degas or sculptures by Calder depict figures assuming acrobatic, balancing poses, including the attitudes and arabesques of graceful dancers, focusing on feet and the anatomy of lower limbs, helping prompt consideration of how, when the human species began walking on two feet six million years ago, immediately learned to put their weight on the arch of the foot.
The art works on display have been loaned from an impressive list of the world’s most prestigious museums, like the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Museo dei Fori Imperiali – Mercati di Traiano and Museo di Scultura Antica Giovanni Barracco in Rome, in addition to Museo Archeologico in Florence, Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Palazzo Pitti in Florence, Musei Civici in Pavia, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid and Musée d’Orsay, Musée Rodin and Musée Bourdelle in Paris, Museo Marino Marini in Florence, Museo di Palazzo Pretorio in Prato, Museo e Gipsoteca Antonio Canova in Possagno, Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nantes and Museo della Civiltà Romana in Rome, and Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
Curated by Stefania Ricci and Sergio Risaliti, the exposition is part of the 60th anniversary of Firenze Hometown of Fashion, and runs from June 19 to April 12, 2024 at the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo in Florence.
-- Michelle Tay
