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Civic Museum – Exhibition ‘Frida Kahlo in the Casa Azul. Macondo myth and reality in the photographs of Leo Matiz ‘
An extraordinary opportunity for the city of Bari to tell the twentieth century photography in the figure of the photographer and multifaceted American artist Leo Matiz – whose centenary comes from birth – who with his shots reveals the beauty and the current charisma of the Frida icon Kahlo is the exotic myth of Macondo, the imaginary city described by Gabriel García Marquez.
The exhibition is promoted and supported by the Municipality of Bari, by the Leo Matiz Foundation, and is organized by the Vallalta Ecomuseum Association and the Idria Consortium, under the patronage of the Embassy of Colombia in Italy and the Embassy of Mexico in Italy.
It first appeared in Puglia and southern Italy thanks to Alejandra Matiz, Leo’s daughter, who wanted to pay tribute to Bari, Magda’s hometown, with whom she shared intense and happy moments.
Unwittingly and without knowing who he was, his father portrayed Magda instead in a beautiful photograph taken in 1957 in Caracas “Magda and the Dwarf” which opens the exhibition. The photo then acquired by the MoMA in New York has become a symbol of amiability in human relationships. A girl, born in the old Bari, thanks to the intuition of Matiz, has thus become an emblem of cordiality, characteristic of the Latin American woman, but also of Mediterranean women.
The exhibition
Frida Kalho in the Casa Azul
Will be shown by courtesy of the Fundacìon Leo Matiz, over 50 original photographic portraits, which Matiz did to his great friend Frida Kalho in the Casa Azul of Coyoácan, ancient district of Mexico City, in the early forties and the photos taken in 1997 in the same house-sanctuary.
Macondo between myth and reality
More than 60 are photographs dedicated to Macondo myth and reality, an extraordinary cross-section of Colombia of the last century and Aracataca, the birthplace of Leo Matiz, the same of Gabriel García Márquez who inspired the mythical Macondo of his Twenty years of solitude.
The exhibition closes with a section dedicated to the experience of social and cultural commitment developed over the years by Antonio Massarelli, Magda Bisceglie and the Vallalta Ecomuseum Association and by a series of sculptural works created by Meo Castellano and Pino Massarelli – CarteM studio, inspired by some photographs shown.
The exhibition catalog is made by Adda Editore and can be purchased at the Museum bookshop.
Bari Civic Museum, Strada Sagges, 13
Entrance ticket: full 5 euros – reduced 3 euros
Catalog: 20 euros
Full ticket + catalog: 20 euros
Reduced ticket + catalog: 18 euros
Timetables
Mon – Wed – Thurs: 10.00am – 6.00pm
Fri – Sat: 10.00am – 7.00pm
Sun: 10.00am – 2.00pm
Tuesday closed
