18.00 
Corso di Porta Vigentina 31 (accesso da via Cassolo, di fronte al civico n. 3) 
On Tuesday 17 December at 6:00 pm, the Foundation presents the latest issue of the prestigious research magazine “Arte Cristiana”, founded in 1913 by ms. Celso Costantini and soon entrusted to the Scuola Beato Angelico, dedicated to the sacred art interventions of the sculptor Francesco Somaini (1926-2005). This edition comes four years after the one dedicated to Lucio Fontana: the only in-depth articles dedicated to 20th century Masters.
Edited by Francesco Tedeschi and Luisa Somaini, the magazine publishes the proceedings of the important study day organized on February 19th at the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo in Milan on the occasion of the exhibition Somaini. Alle origine del sacro, providing a valuable contribution to the knowledge of this area of research of the artist, collateral to the sculptural work of autonomous conception, but certainly not secondary in the span of over half a century of creative activity. In fact, it collects the reports of art and architecture historians who spoke at the conference, who addressed themes, projects and creations of Somaini, conducted in collaboration with the architects Ico Parisi and Luigi Caccia Dominioni, intended not only for newly built places of worship. A publication that, thanks to the director Don Umberto Bordoni, comes as the culmination of the systematic cataloguing of graphic and design materials, not only relating to the creation of stained glass windows and floor mosaics, carried out with the support of great craftsmen, such as the Grassi glass masters of Milan and the Bernasconi mosaicists of Como, but also of minor works integrated into the architectural structure and for this reason not included in the Catalogue raisonné of sculpture (Skira, Milan 2021).
Somaini’s activity in the field of religious art has not, in fact, been the subject of in-depth historical-critical analysis to date, despite having obtained numerous awards, including the Motta Prize for sculpture at the VIII Biennale of Sacred Art in 1968, and having been taken into consideration by some important institutions, first of all the Vatican Museums with regard to the creation of the section dedicated to modern and contemporary art, desired by Pope Paul VI and inaugurated in 1973, where his works are present.
Among the major works examined by the speakers: the apse cross of S. Maria dell’Osa in Fonteblanda (1965) and the Descent of the Holy Spirit for the façade of the church of the same name in Bergamo (1969-72), the floor mosaics and stained glass windows for the church of S. Biagio in Monza (1965-72) and for the chapel of the monastery of the Augustinian nuns of S. Maria Presentata in Poschiavo (1969-72), without forgetting the works for the churches of SS. Vito and Modesto in Lomazzo (1964, 1969) and of S. Pietro Apostolo in Voghera (1993, 2000).
They discuss it together with the authors
Paolo Biscottini, Università Cattolica, Milano
don Umberto Bordoni, “Arte Cristiana”
Francesco Tedeschi, Università Cattolica, Milano
Moderate
Luisa Somaini, Fondazione Somaini, Milano
Free access by reservation only: +39 02 58311707 o fondazione.somaini@gmail.com.
Access in via Cassolo, di fronte al civico n. 3