Fausto Melotti: theatre before the theatre
Fausto Melotti - Lombra dell anima - 1984
From 19 January to 20 April 2022, Hauser & Wirth London presents "Fausto Melotti: Theatre", an exhibition focusing on how theatre influenced the career of Fausto Melotti (1901-1986) even decades before the artist began creating works for the theatre.
Source: Hauser & Wirth London. Image: Fausto Melotti, "L'ombra dell'anima" (The Shadow of the Soul), 1984. Painted plaster, painted refractory, brass. 25.4 x 59.4 x 41.9 cm. Photograph: Stefan Altenburger Photography Zürich. © Fondazione Fausto Melotti, Milano. Courtesy Fondazione Fausto Melotti, Milan and Hauser & Wirth
Born in 1901 in Rovereto, Fausto Melotti was a man who was interested in a wide range of disciplines, both technical and artistic. A student of physics and mathematics before entering the Accademia di Brera, he came into early contact with Futurism, collaborating with his cousin, the art theorist Carlo Belli, and his brother-in-law, the architect Gino Pollini. Moreover, his fascination with theatre accompanied him for much of his life. Including sculptures, ceramics and works on paper spanning from the 1930s to the artist's death in 1986, "Fausto Melotti: Theatre" traces Melotti's entire career to, in the words of writer and exhibition curator Saim Demircan, "consider
Several works in the exhibition clearly demonstrate Melotti's early interest in theatre, such as "Teatrino", a drawing on cardboard created around 1945, shortly after the artist's studio in Milan was destroyed by British bombing. The artist repeated the theme of "Teatrino" in a ceramic composition created in 1950, which is also on display in the exhibition.
According to Hauser & Wirth, in the 1980s, "Melotti was involved in the stage and costume design for numerous productions. This includes the 1982 ballet entitled ‘Le chant du rossignol’ with music by Igor Stravinsky (…) In 1984, Melotti was also responsible for the stage setting and costume design of ‘Belfagor’ based on the novel by Niccolo Machiavelli (…) In the final year of his life, he designed a set for an opera festival organized by the Teatro dell’utopia at the Cenacolo di Ognissanti in Florence".

Read the full article