Saturday, May 27th on Zoom
10am Los Angeles & Phoenix, 1pm NY & Toronto, 6pm London, 7pm Florence
The Uffizi has a unique collection of 1,700 self-portraits; it was started in 1664 by Cardinal Leopoldo de’ Medici and expanded by subsequent Medici rulers and directors of the gallery, but among these there are only 100 by women artists. These include Lavinia Fontana, Sofonisba Anguissola, and Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, but also lesser-known female artists who have recently been rediscovered, such as Mary Hathfield Cosway. A number of extraordinary contemporary artists are now also represented in the famous collection of self-portraits at the Uffizi. Professor Giusti Galardi has conducted extensive art historical research in the art collection and archives of the Uffizi and her scavenging of the gallery’s abundant artistic and textual holdings has facilitated a rich understanding of the social, political, and historical contexts in which the visual art was produced.
Dr. Giovanna Giusti Galardi, born in Pisa, served as art historian and curator at the Uffizi Gallery from 1978 to 2014; since 2005, she was director of the Departments of 19th Century Art, 20th Century and Contemporary Art, Tapestries, Catalogue, and Documentation of the Uffizi Collections. Her academic background and studies in literature, art, and archives have guided her interests in studying the museum’s extensive collections. She has curated many exhibitions with contemporary artists and created and directed the expansion of 20th Century self-portraits in the Uffizi’s Vasari Corridor (2013). She has acquired more than thirty self-portraits by Italian and foreign female artists for the Uffizi (from 2010 to 2014). Following her retirement in 2014, she was the curator, together with Riccardo Spinelli, of the exhibition Sweet Triumphs and Fine Bends: Sugar Sculptures and Napkins for the Florentine Marriage of Maria de Medici (Florence, Galleria Palatina of Pitti Palace, 2015). She was the winner of the first prize of “Books to Taste” (Salon du livre, Turin) with: Sweets at Court: Paintings and More, 2001, and of the first prize of “The Country of Women” (Casa Internazionale delle Donne, Rome) with her exhibition catalogue Autoritratte (Women Artists Self-Portraits), 2010. Since 2019, she has held the position of Academic of Honor, Accademia delle Arti del Disegno.
To RSVP: Paola50122@gmail.com
Minimum suggested donation: $20
This talk is free for Friends of Paola's Studiolo!
Look forward to seeing you on Zoom!
Warmest regards,
Paola
