MARTINI TO GUTTUSO  
A SQUARE FOR SIX PROTAGONISTS OF ITALIAN 20TH CENTURY 

How were the great Italian artists able to testify the passion for humanity through the dramatic and restless journey of the Short Century? The journey engaged by Casa Testori takes off from the title of this Meeting’s edition, to give it visual representation through six major art pieces that document the impetus of art, that was able put itself as defense of humanity. In this historical era shaken by the great ideologies, these artists at times start from opposite positions, like in Mario Sironi and Renato Guttuso’s case, one a follower of fascism, the other registered to the Communist party. Still, these differences fade in the consciousness that they share: the central role played by the human presence, with its aspirations, its anxiety, and its melancholy. The experience of the 20th Century is scarred by the terrible wounds inflicted to the lives of millions. Starting by this very consciousness, taken on with bravery and radicalism, Leoncillo’s work was born, with the series of his “San Sebastiano”. On the other hand, through the horse’s leap that unsaddles the horseman, Marino Marini gives a face to the ardor of the question that burns in the heart of every woman and every man, and which is shape of the irreducibility of every being. We don’t see any shapes in Titina Maselli’s amazing art piece, which represents a moving metro train, though from behind the windows thousands of presences are perceived, struggling with the waiting and fatigues of a very contemporary everyday life. Lastly, in one of the masterpieces of sculpture of the century, Arturo Martini gives back the experience that best qualifies the human subject: forgiveness, with the embrace between the father and the prodigal son.