John Battista De Santis Poster Exhibit
Ten Italian Posters for 2013, Year of the Italian Culture in the United States
Ten Italian posters designed by John Battista De Santis are now on exhibit at the City University of New York’s Calandra Institute. De Santis, the Artistic Director of IHCM, designed these posters as part of the Italian government 2013 initiative on Italian creativity and culture in the United States.
Dr. Anthony Tamburri, Dean of the Calandra Institute, CUNY, opened the event introducing, John De Santis, Joseph Sciame president IHCM, and Italy Consul General, Minister Natalia Quintavalle.
2013 Year Of Italian Culture In the United States Poster Series. Each poster highlights themes presented throughout the US in 2013. The poster subjects include: art, music, science, fashion, technology, architecture and the Italian heritage in general.
John De Santis talked to the audience about the concept and design behind the posters: “How do you put into one poster everything about Italy? The David-Apollo is now at the National gallery in Washington and we said ‘this can be the core piece’, indicating the main theme poster of the exhibition “We usually do one poster per year, but this year the theme is really a year itself, so we decided to do more than one poster. We started with the Michelangelo poster. He explained:
“We tried create different visuals and put them together in one poster but it was too much, we decided there would be multiple posters year with one poster coming out every month: we already have music, art, science, technology and the annual one.”
Those that have been already released are ‘music and theatre,’ with Giuseppe Verdi, who also celebrates his 200th birthday this year, ‘science and technology,’ with the sketches of Leonardo da Vinci, ‘art,’ depicted by Piero della Francesca, ‘cinema and photography,’ with Cinecitta’ in the background, ‘Italian language and literature,’ represented by Dante, ‘italian brand and design,’ symbolized by the 50th anniversary of Lamborghini and finally ‘next generation,’ focused on the new technologies, ‘tastes and flavors’ and ‘territories.’
Minister Natalia Quintavalle, Consul General of Italy in New York, said “The posters are always very beautiful but I think this year they are reaching the top” She added “museums and all the other cultural institutes will present the most advanced techniques of restorations, combining the past and a look to the future. There will be a lot of initiatives you may want to follow on the expression of the Italian creativity in the fields of science and technology.”
After the speakers left the podium everyone had a chance to everyone
to admire the posters first hand.
The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Italian Embassy in Wasington, D.C. will bring masterpieces to the U.S. like Michelangelo’s David-Apollo. Maestro Riccardo Muti will perform in some of America’s premier theaters and concert halls. Cinema and photography will be at festivals and exhibitions across the US. Italy will display cutting edge technology, from science parks to robotic surgery. Academic institutions will celebrate the 700th anniversary of Boccaccio’s birth as well as the 500th of Machiavelli’s The Prince.
Calandra Institute
City University of New York
24 Wesr 43rd Street 18th flr