Ritratto di donna. Il sogno degli anni Venti e lo sguardo di Ubaldo Oppi

In post-First World War Europe, women were starting to carve out a role for themselves, becoming more independent, more seductive and more modern. Hairstyles and hemlines were getting shorter, as their influence on society and culture continued to grow. Coco Chanel was revolutionising fashion, Amelia Earhart was flying across the Atlantic and Josephine Baker was enchanting Paris with her dancing.

The winds of change were also blowing in Italy, and a magnetic portrait of these women, so different from their pre-War sisters, was created by painter Ubaldo Oppi; having grown up in Vicenza and trained in Vienna, Paris and Venice, he later moved to Milan after being ‘discovered’ by Margherita Sarfatti and Ugo Ojetti, who were seeking out an “Italian style” in art. But Oppi was not alone, as the new women were also appearing in paintings by artists such as Felice Casorati, Mario Cavalieri, Mario Sironi and Piero Marussig. True mistresses of their time, they emerge from the headlines to re-evoke a myth: femmes fatales as powerful as Amazons, or muses portrayed in a magical suspension, eternalised in the values of a seductive form of Classicism.

These fascinating artworks (around one hundred items will be on display, including paintings, drawings, sculptures, clothing and jewellery) will win over visitors with a unique account of the modernity of the 1920s, as charted by Ubaldo Oppi’s portraits of iconic women.

The exhibition is part of a project to revitalise Vicenza’s Basilica Palladiana, now a venue for world-class exhibits with the launch of a new season of exhibitions on the area’s history and artistic talents, highlighting their connections to great international culture.

Intesa Sanpaolo is an exhibition Partner as part of its Progetto Cultura programme, and has also contributed to the event by loaning Ubaldo Oppi’s work Idillio Cadorino (1927/30) from the Intesa Sanpaolo’s Collections.