BLACK AND WHITE RUBENS, Unusual Details of the Palaces of Genoa
A photographic journey in the footsteps of the Palaces of Genoa by Peter Paul Rubens , among the beauties of the noble city described by photographer Fabio Accorà through a vortex of emotions, a whirlwind of senses that mix and overlap every time we recognize a building, a doorway and we try to remember a detail, a glimpse, places that we encounter every day of our lives but that fascinate us as the first time.
Fabio Accorrà, born in Genoa in 1984, wanted to capture these prestigious buildings in real and spontaneous situations, sometimes dazzled by the sun, in everyday life. His passion for photography has indelibly marked every journey he takes to discover cities and landscapes, such as the boundless landscapes of Lapland or the chaotic metropolises of New York and Tokyo, from the sands of the desert to the power of Icelandic nature. He has succeeded in providing that Clio-like lens through which the image becomes a litmus test of the soul of a place, often constructed with multiple profiles, perspectives, and diverse hues . These journeys and experiences are then honored in publications and exhibitions around Italy, including the exhibition "The Colors of Japan" at the Edoardo Chiossone Museum of Oriental Art in Genoa in 2020, and two years later, "Venice, Colors and Words of Silence," a photographic reportage that depicts Venice as it had never been seen before, deserted during the last lockdown .
Fabio Accorà teaches us, therefore, that photography is not just a simple "click", a finger pressed on the button of the camera or smartphone , but that a good image is such only if it captures a significant moment in life , only if it is capable of exploring the essence of a subject by also uncovering the most hidden detail.
For this occasion, Fabio Accorà returns to explore his Genoa, where the lights, shadows, and different geometries are always there, almost waiting for his camera , punctual and precise in every minute detail, and which in this case lingers on the buildings of the Genoese nobility. The historic city is a living reality , enjoying a real life and its own functionality. The Town Hall, the art galleries, the luxury boutiques, and the financial centers are concrete examples of how this life continues to flow within such a precious interior. Discovering majestic buildings, half-closed doorways, glimpses of never-before-seen courtyards, and unusual details—this is Black and White Rubens .
On the occasion of the four hundredth anniversary of the publication of the book The Palaces of Genoa , edited by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) in Antwerp, Banca Carige is offering the opportunity to rediscover the splendid architecture of the noble palaces that had already impressed the Antwerp artist during his stay in the city between 1604 and 1607, through the exhibition Black/White Rubens. Unusual Details of the Palaces of Genoa .
The exhibition aims to bring to life, through the black and white photographs of Fabio Accorà and the malleability of Shari Caviglia's silver jewelry, the exceptional architectural forms, decorations, stuccoes, and facades of aristocratic residences , allowing us to discern even the most minute details or unusual glimpses of these elegant buildings. Rubens was so fascinated by the aristocratic residences discovered in the city that he sought to present them as a valid model of living, as they perfectly combined beauty and comfort: practical residences that reflected the commercial nature of their patrons, but at the same time sumptuous homes that demonstrated the wealth and power achieved by the Genoese noble class. This is how Rubens describes and presents in the 1622 volume, through seventy-two engraved plates, twelve palaces in the first edition − later becoming thirty-one in the second − in which each building is identified by a letter of the alphabet from A to K.
The artist's intention was not so much to write an architectural treatise as to compile a sort of teaching manual through which he could propose a model for updating the architecture of his city, Antwerp, still rooted in medieval taste. Rubens describes the Genoese palaces by presenting the façade elevation, the floor plan, and, above all, the various rooms of the palace and their uses, thus combining an overall view of the architecture with the functionality of the rooms—not only the state rooms but also the private rooms such as bedrooms and bathrooms, or the service rooms such as kitchens and cellars.
The buildings selected by the artist almost all belonged to the Strada Nuova road axis, with the sole exception of the villas of Albaro and Sampierdarena − then outside the city − thus focusing on the architectural innovations introduced by the figure of Galeazzo Alessi (1512-1572) in the sixteenth century, to then delve deeper, with the second edition of the volume, into the seventeenth-century architect Bartolomeo Bianco (1590-1657), creator of the innovative spaces of the buildings on Via Balbi . Centuries later, the decorations and different geometries of these buildings still fascinate and can be an inspiration for artists, photographers, goldsmiths, who, through their own eye, inclination, or creativity, manage to provide us with ever new and personal interpretations of the cultural vivacity that was able to express itself in Genoa between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, both in the artistic and architectural fields.