Germany - "Illustrators for Gianni Rodari. Italian Excellence"
The year 2020 marks the centenary of the birth of Gianni Rodari (October 23, 1920), children’s author famous worldwide, among the most beloved and innovating.
Fairy-tales, nursery-rhymes, poems, short stories, and novels compose his wide artistic production, besides his fundamental essay The Grammar of Fantasy, a milestone in pedagogical-literary culture. Rodari was the first, and unique, Italian author to receive in 1970, the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award, the ‘Nobel Prize’ for children’s literature.
Innovative, universal, timeless, Rodari’s work is re-printed year after year and remains an inexhaustible source of inspiration for many artists.
The exhibition Illustrators for Gianni Rodari. Italian Excellence celebrates this anniversary with the works by Italian illustrators who have interpreted Rodari.
Realized by Bologna Children’s Book Fair and Emilia-Romagna Region Culture Dept, and curated by Cooperativa Giannino Stoppani/Accademia Drosselmeier, the exhibit presents the works by twenty-one Italian illustrators, ranging from historic figures and famous contemporary artists to the younger generation, each one represented with three works.
The exhibition was programmed among the activities of the Italian Cultural Institute in Berlin, that was already a partner, together with the Italian Cultural Institute in Madrid, of another (and very successful) exhibition dedicated to the excellence of Italian illustration, this also realized thanks to the collaboration between Bologna Children’s Book Fair and Emilia-Romagna Region, and of which the exhibit dedicated to Rodari is an ideal continuation.
Due to the Covid-19 emergency, that forced the closure of the venue, now the Italian Cultural Institute in Berlin proposes it online on its website and social channels. The ‘virtual’ exhibition is available from May 18th to August 31st.
Italian Cultural Institute in Berlin
