L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 2017 www.italoamericano.org L'Italo-Americano 26 W hat really is remark- a b l e a b o u t t h e upcoming exhibition, The Sicilian Cart: History in Movement, hosted at the Italian A m e r i c a n M u s e u m o f L o s Angeles (IAMLA) from June 30 th to January 7 th , is that its Executive Director, Marianna Gatto, since she was a child, has been nursing and nourishing an intimate fascination for those exceptional means of transporta- tion turned folkloric art pieces in motion, that are the Sicilian carts, without having even ever seen a full-scale one with her own eyes. T w o y e a r s a g o , G i u s e p p e Giuffrida – a valuable upholder of a tradition that is rapidly get- ting lost - conceived and curat- e d t h e i t i n e r a n t e x h i b i t i o n , MUSCÀ (Museum of Sicilian Cart). After the first two edi- tions – held in different loca- tions throughout the historical center of Taormina, Sicily – he is now enthusiastically bringing i t s f a m i l y c o l l e c t i o n t o Downtown L.A. Let's take a peek at the exhi- bition with Marianna Gatto first: What is your personal con- nection to the upcoming exhi- b i t i o n , T h e S i c i l i a n C a r t : History in Movement? I have been enchanted by Sicilian carts since I was a child and received a small cart as a present. I did not realize then that the "toy" was based on a real horse-drawn cart! It seemed too fantastic to be possible. M y g r a n d m o t h e r , M a r i a Anna Cortese Gatto, was from Lucca Sicula, a village in the p r o v i n c e o f A g r i g e n t o . T h e Cortese family left Sicily in the l a t e 1 8 0 0 s a n d e n t e r e d t h e United States through the port of Louisiana. Following the aboli- tion of slavery in the United States, many Sicilians served as a g r i c u l t u r a l l a b o r e r s i n t h e American South. Her family worked in the fields before sav- ing enough money to send for the family in Sicily, and then moved west. This exhibition is very spe- cial to me because it provides an opportunity to showcase Sicily's immense beauty and history, and, a century later, represents my family's immigration story coming full circle. Could you expand on the partnership between IAMLA, MUSCÀ and Dolce & Gabbana in the realization of the exhibi- tion? A s p a r t o f a C i t y o f L o s Angeles delegation organized by C o u n c i l m a n J o e B u s c a i n o , I A M L A ' s p r e s i d e n t P a u l Pagnone traveled to Sicily last summer. During his visit to the MUSCÀ exhibition in Taormina, he was captivated by the carts, a n d b e f r i e n d e d t h e c u r a t o r , Giuseppe Giuffrida. P a u l t h e n i n t r o d u c e d M r . Giuffrida and I via email, and we began chatting about the possibility of putting together an exhibition. The MUSCÀ, and Giuseppe in particular, became wonderful collaborators. It's not every day that two organizations can assist one another in achiev- ing their respective missions so seamlessly. As a historian, I was interest- ed in using the carts as a vehicle for understanding Sicily, its multi-layered history, and the many cultures that have influ- enced the island. Beyond their striking appearance, carts are fascinating on many levels - from the craftsmanship requir- ing the collaboration of several craftspeople, to the role that the carts played in transmitting cul- ture, history, and values picto- graphically during an era when many people were illiterate. W h i l e t h e m o t o r v e h i c l e s long replaced the carts as the primary means of transportation, t h e y c o n t i n u e t o o c c u p y a revered place in Sicilian popular culture. The first representation of carts in popular culture that c a m e t o m i n d w a s D o l c e & Gabbana's recent collections in which the carts' motif figures prominently. F r a n c e s c a G u e r r i n i , t h e IAMLA's manager of program- ming and outreach, spent many years as a journalist in the fash- ion world. She contacted the iconic Italian fashion house, and we began discussing the exhibi- tion with Dolce & Gabbana's team. They provided an intro- duction to SMEG, the Italian upscale appliance manufacturer, with which the fashion house collaborated to produce a limit- ed edition of appliances featur- ing the cart's theme, which we are excited to showcase in the exhibition. And now let's hear Giuseppe Giuffrida's take: What drew you to this tra- ditional and extraordinary f o r m o f a r t , t h e " S i c i l i a n cart"? My namesake grandfather was a carter. He used to drive a traditional cart around Sicily, predominantly carrying fruits and wheat, but also building m a t e r i a l s , l i k e r e d c l a y a n d stones. In the 1960s, with the intro- duction of the first motor vehi- cles, the likes of trucks and small vans, he "upgraded" to t h o s e n e w m e a n s o f g r o u n d transportation to deliver the goods. My father, next-to-last of my grandfather's seven children, was very close to him and, as a tribute, carried on the family tra- dition, by starting twenty years ago a collection of "parade" Sicilian carts, decorated with garish colors. Despite I was only one year old, when my grandpa passed away, I had the chance to hear a lot about him and his carts by some of his friends. VALERIO VIALE IAMLA's Exhibition The Sicilian Car t: Histor y in Movement LOS ANGELES ITALIAN COMMUNITY I carried out a series of infor- mal chats with artists, musi- cians, carters who had worked with him, most of which were family friends. That fieldwork made up half of my historical investigation, while the other half consisted in studying books about the Sicilian carts. The more I investigated it, the more I got enamored by this fascinating form of art. Could you outline the histo- ry of the exhibition of which y o u a r e c u r a t o r , M U S C À (Museum of Sicilian Cart) - held for the first two years in T a o r m i n a , S i c i l y , a n d t h i s year finally in L.A.? Two years ago, I inaugurated the first edition of MUSCÀ at the deconsecrated Church of M o u n t C a r m e l ( " C h i e s a d e l Carmine"). The exhibition - fea- turing our family collection of Sicilian carts as well as tradi- tional billboards used for the " O p e r a d e i P u p i " ( S i c i l i a n Puppets) - lasted only a month, but we had about 2000 visitors. Some of them were second or third generation Sicilian emi- grants visiting their homeland, who shared with me their emo- tion in looking at those pieces of art. It was a touching experience to me as well. Last year, we replicated the second edition in a different location, Taormina's Communal Library, at the deconsecrated Church of Saint Augustine. This time, the exhibition lasted five m o n t h s , f r o m M a y t i l l September. Among our visitors (a total of about 6000), we had the privilege to have VIPs, the likes of actress Susan Sarandon - w h o s e g r a n d f a t h e r o n h e r mom's side, Giuseppe Vincenzo Criscione, hailed from Ragusa, Sicily - Italian model Bianca Balti and Vanity Fair's Fashion a n d S t y l e d i r e c t o r M i c h a e l Roberts. During our second edition, I had the chance to meet with I A M L A ' s P r e s i d e n t , P a u l P a g n o n e , w h o f e l t h i g h l y impressed both by the artistic quality of the artworks and the way they were showcased in our exhibition. Depending on the geographi- cal areas, the carts have distinct features. The Palermo's and C a t a n i a ' s s t y l e s a r e t h e t w o most refined both artistically and in terms of content variety. The carts from Palermo had trapezoidal sideboards and the predominant color was yellow, while the ones from Catania were mainly red painted and had r e c t a n g u l a r e l e m e n t s . T h e Palermo's arabesque geometries a n d d e c o r a t i v e m o t i f s w e r e inspired by the Norman-Arab culture. The painting style was mostly flat and there was no perspective. The Catania's painting style was nearer to the Renaissance one. However, the decorative motifs are mainly Baroque, such as acanthus' leaves or figure- heads (sort of winged sirens), cupids or cherubs. The carts feature also mag- n i f i c e n t s c u l p t e d e l e m e n t s . Among these, the high point is located in the rear and called the "key," wooden handiwork lock- ing the poles. The highlights of this third edition, on view at IAMLA, are going to be a cart from Palermo, p a i n t e d ( s u p p o s e d l y i n t h e 1 9 6 0 s ) w i t h s c e n e s f r o m Ariosto's Orlando Furioso by G i u s e p p e M a n f r è - a n a r t i s t from Alcamo, who collaborated also with well-known Italian painter, Renato Guttuso - and built (probably also sculpted in i t s w o o d e n c a r v i n g s ) b y Giovanni Raia. The second cart on view was painted by Antonino Liotta, an artist from Paternò, a town in the province of Catania. In all the area, he was the greatest. T h e r e p r e s e n t a t i o n i s d a t e d , September 20 th 1950, only a few years before Liotta's death i n 1 9 5 6 . I t w a s b u i l t b y Domenico Morabito - native of Belpasso, a town on the slopes of Mount Etna – and sculpted by Ignazio Russo. The wonderful key is decorated with a scene f r o m C a v a l l e r i a R u s t i c a n a , while the cart's left panel is based on Carmen, the right one on Rigoletto, the rear one on Norma. Our exhibition is going to showcase also a marvelous bill- board by Rosario Napoli, very talented poster designer who died at merely nineteen. It was realized in tempera over a sup- port of two brown paper sheets connected in the middle and used to promote a representation of the "Opera dei Pupi," the typical Sicily's puppet theater, b a s e d o n F r a n k i s h r o m a n t i c p o e m s s u c h a s T h e S o n g o f Roland or Orlando furioso. Both the Sicilian carts and this traditional marionette the- atrical representation had their golden age from 1930s up until the 1960s. In different ways, they both played a fundamental s o c i a l f u n c t i o n . T h e f i r s t a s means of transportation that enabled trade in the island and the second as form of entertain- ment as well as catharsis and social liberation. Giuseppe Giuffrida conceived and curated the itinerant exhibition, MUSCÀ (Museum of Sicilian Cart

• Cover