Enchanted Curtains. Act I

Enchanted Curtains. Act I is an interdisciplinary exhibition of costumes, sketches and installations by Emanuele Luzzati, created in collaboration with the Fondazione Cerratelli, the Municipality of Genoa, the Lele Luzzati Foundation, and the Palazzo Ducale Foundation for Culture. The exhibition is supported by the Genoa Chamber of Commerce and held under the patronage of the Liguria Region, the Ligustica Academy of Fine Arts of Genoa, the University of Pisa, UNIGE-DAD, and the UCEI.
The exhibition unfolds through a journey featuring theatrical costumes and stage artefacts from the Fondazione Cerratelli, originally created for landmark productions staged in numerous theatres. Alongside these are preparatory sketches, costume designs and stage maquettes, offering visitors a unique insight into Luzzati’s creative process.
Following the themes of the various productions, visitors discover the extraordinary versatility of Luzzati’s artistic career, spanning cinema, theatre and book illustration. Rather than providing a comprehensive retrospective, the exhibition aims to inspire reflection on the imaginative and inventive processes behind his work.
The journey begins with Candide by Voltaire, from the more than thirty engraved plates created for Luzzati’s graduation thesis at the École des Beaux-Arts in Lausanne, to the theatrical production set to the music of Leonard Bernstein at the Theatre of Saint Louis.
The exhibition also presents the original illustrations for the book published by Nuages (Milan), the miniature theatre created for the Walton Foundation on Ischia, and the many reinterpretations of Mozart’s The Magic Flute—from the celebrated opera production at Glyndebourne to the illustrated edition published in Oxford, the children’s playground in Santa Margherita Ligure, and the traditional mezzaro textile produced for Giglio Bagnara Editore.
Also on display are numerous fine art editions produced using silkscreen printing and intaglio techniques. Particularly striking are the costumes created for Rossini’s La Cenerentola, produced for the Teatro Lirico di Genova in 1978, displayed alongside four remarkable mixed-media and collage artworks created for the book published by Mario Vijakfor Quadragono Libri. These works later inspired the historic stage production Le dodici Cenerentole in cerca d’autore, directed by Pippo Crivelli and written by Rita Cirio.
A dedicated gallery is entirely devoted to screenings of Luzzati’s animated films, recordings of theatrical productions and documentary interviews.
The exhibition closed on 10 January 2022, welcoming 11,314 visitors over 128 days of opening.

ColophonSipariIncantati.pdf

The Commemorative Stamp

To mark the celebrations of the centenary of Emanuele Luzzati’s birth, on 26 October 2021 the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, in collaboration with Poste Italiane, issued a commemorative stamp dedicated to the artist. The stamp was printed by the Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, the Italian State Mint and Printing Institute.
The design features a profile portrait of the Master superimposed on a detail from Luzzati’s original set design for Candide, Leonard Bernstein’s opera, created for the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in 1994. The original artwork was displayed at Casa Luzzati as part of the exhibition Enchanted Curtains. Act I.