BOOM 60!

Exhibited at Museo del Novecento in Milan, BOOM 60! explores modern art as it was recounted from the early fifties to early sixties in the weekly and monthly illustrated press.

Cameraphoto, Alberto Sordi alla Biennale del 1958, 1958, stampa fotografica, Modena, AAF – Archivio Arte Fondazione Cassa di risparmio di Modena

In Milan, the Museo del Novecento with Electa present “BOOM 60! That was Modern Art”, an exhibition dedicated to art from the early fifties to the early sixties and its reflection in the popular mass media.

**Top:** Cameraphoto, *Alberto Sordi alla Biennale del 1958*, 1958, photographic print, Modena, AAF – Archivio Arte Fondazione Cassa di risparmio di Modena. **Above:** BOOM 60! Era arte moderna, installation view at Museo del Novecento, Milan, 2016

BOOM 60! explores modern art as it was recounted from the early fifties to early sixties in the weekly and monthly illustrated press, the popular newsmagazines. These were the boom years, when not only the economy and consumption were soaring, but also the sales of illustrated weeklies and monthlies. Their readership peaked in this period, with a circulation far greater than that of the newspapers, making them an important means of entertainment, as well as a faithful mirror of the collective outlook and aspirations.

What emerges from the pages of these popular magazines is an alternative picture of modern art and its protagonists, contrasting with the evaluations of cultivated critics. Artistic innovations clashed with the expectations of the general public, who were highly suspicious of them. The magazines often fomented their readers’ prejudices, and at others sought to “educate” them by relating the art world to the forms of mass culture.

The exhibition, with a spectacular exhibit design by the Atelier Mendini, reflects these varied aspects of Italian visual culture in its decisive phase, drawing widely on the Milanese context, as the center of the major commercial publishing houses and much of the most advanced artistic research.

BOOM 60! Era arte moderna, installation view at Museo del Novecento, Milan, 2016

Qui vive il pictor optimus, in “Gente”, II, 21, 21 May 1958, pp. 20-22

L’hanno vista in ventisei modi, in “Settimana Incom Illustrata”, VIII, 9, 26 February 1955, pp. 4-5. Photos Giancolombo

G. Coco, “Me ne dia un metro” (Si fa per ridere), in “Settimo Giorno”, XV, 17, 24 April 1962, p. 47

G. Mascherpa, Lo sbarco dei corsari a Venezia, in “Gente”, VIII, 27, 2 July 1964, pp. 58-61

Acrobazie Spaziali, in “Le Ore”, X, 500, 13 December 1962, pp. 12-13

Roma. La pop art e l'op art sono arrivate anche negli ateliers..., in “L’Espresso”, XI, 15, 11 April 1965, p. 27

until 12 March 2017
BOOM 60! Era arte moderna
curated by Mariella Milan and Desdemona Ventroni with Maria Grazia Messina and Antonello Negri
exhibition design by Atelier Mendini
Museo del Novecento
Via Guglielmo Marconi 1, Milan

BOOM 60!

Exhibited at Museo del Novecento in Milan, BOOM 60! explores modern art as it was recounted from the early fifties to early sixties in the weekly and monthly illustrated press.

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