PUPPETS AND THE AVANTGARDE

The exhibition, followed by James Bradburne, member of the Scientific Committee of the Fondazione Palazzo Magnani and founder of CIRCI – Internazionational Centre for Research in the Culture od Childhood, revolves around the concept of the ‘fourth wall’, i.e. the capacity for emotional involvement that makes a successful performance a reality capable of immersing the spectator in the story being staged. When a marionette or puppet breaks the fourth wall, it conquers the trust of the audience, giving the show the power to blur that division between stage and world, between art and life. This was well understood by those artists – protagonists of the world of Art and Puppet Theatre –who, rather than dismissing marionettes and puppets as mere children’s games, took their enthusiasm seriously and indeed looked to ‘creative play’ as a source of aesthetic inspiration from which to seek new forms of visual expression. While some artists saw the potential of puppets and marionettes to imagine a better world, satirists used transgressive and biting performances to attack the political establishment. Targeting adult audiences and drawing on a solid tradition of political satire from ‘puppet theatre’, hand-held puppets in particular were also used to critique political and social conditions. At Palazzo Magnani, visitors will be welcomed by the life-size costumes designed by Pablo Picasso for Parade, a choreographic ballet that Sergej Djaghilev’s Ballets russes staged in Paris in 1917. Then we come to a whole host of puppets: marionettes (handled from above) and puppets (handled from below), from the oldest specimens, such as the Pulcinellas or Harlequins of the Commedia dell’Arte, through to those of Otello Sarzi – an honorary citizen of Reggio Emilia – made from experimental materials.  

The investigation then shifts to the Russian avant-garde with the section ‘Marionettes and the Revolution’. When Lenin and his wife Natalia Krupskaya decided to combat illiteracy and educate the new Soviet citizenry, they realised the use of such puppets was ideal and, working with leading artists, architects and writers, figures such as Natalia Sats, Samuil Marshak, El Lissitzky, Aleksandra Ekster and Nina Efimova began to experiment with new forms of children’s theatre.

At the end of the nineteenth century, on the wave of Orientalism, classical Javanese puppets began to appear on the European stage. The Austrian artist and illustrator Richard Teschner, in particular, developed the art of stick puppetry to a high degree, influencing artists from Paris right to Moscow.

The exhibition comes to a close with a tribute to Otello Sarzi (Vigasio, VR 1922 – Reggio Emilia 2001) thanks to close collaboration with the Fondazione Famiglia Sarzi. Born into a tradition of puppeteers that had lasted for generations, Otello came into contact with many of the protagonists of the Italian artistic, theatrical and cinematographic scene of the time and represents one of the highest and most important moments of italian puppet theatre post-WWII.