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Del Conca’s involvement in art

In Italy there has never been an exhibition providing an overview examining the whole of 20th-century American painting. All that we have seen have been sporadic solo or single-theme shows. The San Marino exhibition obviously does not set out to illustrate the whole development of American painting, simply because the number of featured works (20) would not be sufficient for the task. The show is, however, the first time in Italy that the great names of 20th-century American painting have been brought together in an attempt to tell the story of the whole century.  There will be a focus on all the key moments in the development of American art The first section ranges from the very different realisms of Edward Hopper and Thomas Hart Benton up to the strikingly original output of Giorgia O’Keeffe. The exhibition thus makes an extraordinary start with Hopper’s stunning, adamantine realism, the so-called regionalist vision of Benton and the essentialness of a concise blend of description and metaphysics in O’Keeffe’s art.

This initial section is followed by the unforgettable season of great American abstract art. Both more gestural action painting and the apparently freer application of paint to give a sense of construction and form. All the most celebrated names are featured, beginning with Jackson Pollock and two works, the first dated 1949 and the second dated 1952. The section continues with Franz Kline and Willem de Kooning, again with large paintings from the 1950s, when they turned out their finest works.

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