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Faces of Geometry. From Agnesi to Mirzakhani pp 105–120Cite as

Caterina Marcenaro + Franco Albini for the Love of Art

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems ((LNNS,volume 88))

Abstract

I was immediately smitten when I visited Il Tesoro di San Lorenzo in Genoa many years ago (Fig. 1). I happened to discover the buried treasure that holds the sacraments and remnants of the crusades beneath the Duomo, and I was baffled by the fact that I was completely unfamiliar with it. I knew immediately that this modern architecture suited me, and I began a quest to learn more.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The Palazzo Bianco, Palazzo Rosso, Tesoro di San Lorenzo e Museo di Sant’Agostino are modern municipal museums of the City of Genoa that required radical interventions into existing structures and sites after World War II. Three of the four museums were installed into pre-existing monumental buildings that had suffered from allied bombing in the war. The Treasury Museum resulted from postwar reorganization of ecclesiastical artifacts.

  2. 2.

    For more on the life of Caterina Marcenaro, see [1].

  3. 3.

    See also [2] and “Palazzo Rosso dai Brignole-Sale a Caterino Marcenaro: luci ed ombre di un caposaldo della museologia italiana,” by Piero Boccardo. Genova e il Collezionismo nel Novecento (Torino: Umberto Allemandi) and Medioevo Demolito, Genova 1860–1940 (Genova: Pirella editore, 1990).

  4. 4.

    Helg [3], p. 551. Cited in Franco Albini Architecture and Design 1934–1977 by Stephen Leet (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1990) p. 16.

  5. 5.

    Baffa et al. [4].

  6. 6.

    From conversation between author and Marco Albini, the son of Franco, in Columbus, Ohio, March 2006.

  7. 7.

    Marcenaro [5].

  8. 8.

    Marcenaro, p. 263. Italics included for this essay.

  9. 9.

    Lecture at the Turin Ploytechnic at the beginning of the 1954–55 academic year, “The functions an architecture of the museum: some experiences,” reprinted in Zero Gravity: Franco Albini, Costruire le Modernitá, Irace and Bucci (Milan: Mondadori, 2006) p. 72.

  10. 10.

    Ibid.

  11. 11.

    Argan [6], pp. 64–66.

  12. 12.

    Magagnato, Licisco Comunitá, no. 6 gennaio-febbraio 1950, pp. 31–34.

  13. 13.

    Affirmation that Marcenaro successfully redefined the image of the Palazzo Bianco Gallery: “E’ stato programmaticamente abbandonato il concetto di palazzo ed è stato rigorosamente perseguito il museo”. Cfr Emiliani [7], pp. 153–154.

  14. 14.

    Marcenaro [5], p. 267.

  15. 15.

    See Footnote 14.

  16. 16.

    Franco Albini, comments titled “Le funzioni e l’architettura del museo: alcune esperienze” were given as at the Turin Polytechnic for the opening of the 1954–55 academic year, printed in Zero Gravity, pp. 71–73.

  17. 17.

    Caterina Marcenaro, Museum V.5 (1952), p. 266.

  18. 18.

    See Footnote 14.

  19. 19.

    See Footnote 14.

  20. 20.

    Argan, Metron, p. 39

  21. 21.

    Tafuri underscored the success of the model and its role in modern history: “the design of Palazzo Bianco by Albini immediately became a necessary point of reference for a culture intent on safeguarding, in all situations, reassuring equilibrium. Albini’s design is a masterpiece of its kind: the extreme and rigorously developed museological function accompanied by a refined neutrality of the décor displaying works; at the same time, it allows other signs to shine through like filigree, reducing them to respectful interlinear glosses of patiently reconstructed textual fragments.” p. 49.

  22. 22.

    Ponti, Gio, “La casa di un amatore di arte, all’ultimo piano di un antico palazzo,” Domus, no. 307, June 1955, pp. 11–18.

  23. 23.

    Jones [8], pp. 172–175.

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  1. The Ohio State University, Columbus, USA

    Kay Bea Jones

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  1. Kay Bea Jones
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  1. Dipartimento di Matematica, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Paola Magnaghi-Delfino

  2. Università degli Studi eCampus, Novedrate, Italy

    Giampiero Mele

  3. Dipartimento di Matematica, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Tullia Norando

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Jones, K.B. (2020). Caterina Marcenaro + Franco Albini for the Love of Art. In: Magnaghi-Delfino, P., Mele, G., Norando, T. (eds) Faces of Geometry. From Agnesi to Mirzakhani. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 88. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29796-1_10

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