MARIA MULAS
The creative path of Maria Mulas began in Milan in the 1960s, with the creation of photographs inspired by the world of theater and the theme of the portrait, a subject that will be constantly taken up in the artist's expressive itinerary and which will constitute one of the substantial poetic elements of his work. Mulas returns a real, credible and tangible dimension, photographically generated by life in "direct": as in a sort of anthropological study, she draws a physiognomic map of the faces and personalities encountered during her "pilgrimage" as an artist (Beuys, Warhol, Richter, Pane, Bourgeois, Colombo, Castellani, Dorfles, Baselitz, Kapoor, Tilson, Johns, Rauschenberg, Koons, Streheler, Grass, Pivano, Moravia, De Chirico, Fo, etc ...), showing men and women of the literary and artistic culture among the most important of the twentieth century. Mulas' first solo exhibition, dedicated to a selection of portraits that reveal a careful look at social criticism, was hosted at the Diaframma Gallery in Milan in 1976; this exhibition is followed in 1979 by the review at the Galleria Il Milione in Milan, where portraits of intellectuals and artists are presented to the public (Biennale '78 - PAC '79), in which the technical experiment on the 20 mm wide-angle lens becomes one with the choice of the character, with its symbolic values; in the same year, with Lea Vergine, in some European cities, he performs a work on the artists active in the historical avant-gardes, creating portraits that will be exhibited in the exhibition The other half of the avant-garde, held at the Palazzo Reale in Milan and at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome, in 1980. In 1984, at the school of San Giovanni Evangelista in Venice, with the exhibition The Quartet, curated by Achille Bonito Oliva, he exhibited the portraits of the artists Beuys, Cucchi, Fabro and Nauman. In 1998 his city, Milan, dedicates a large monographic retrospective to her at the Palazzo
Reale entitled Miraggi, with more than three hundred works, including portraits and research works on the study of light and architectural forms that detaches itself from superficiality and the partial to enter the spheres of the complex. It is present in private and public collections, in Italy and abroad. Her works are permanently exhibited in various museums: following the exhibition "By combination: other proposals from the Museum's collection - Special project for Maria Mulas: 50 photographic portraits of artists and critics", more than fifty of her portraits have become part of the collection of the Luigi Pecci Museum Center for Contemporary Art in Prato. She is also the author and has collaborated in the creation of some art books: Milan seen by ... (1973), Hans Richter (1976), Annotations on the language of Hans Richter (1978) and On the organic language of Henry Moore (1977) .
text by A. Scaramuzzino
EXHIBITIONS
1976 - He exhibits for the first time in a solo exhibition at the Galleria Diaframma in Milan with a selection of portraits that reveal a careful look at social criticism;
1979 - With the technical experiment on the 20 mm wide-angle lens, he exhibits portraits of intellectuals and artists in an exhibition entitled “Biennale '78 - PAC '79”;
1980 - Executes a series of portraits of the artists active in the historical avant-gardes, exhibited in the exhibition "The other half of the avant-garde" curated by Lea Vergine, held at the Palazzo Reale in Milan and at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome;
1982 - Palazzo Carignano in Turin, presents panels dedicated to the theme of architecture, another subject that will constitute a constant creative interest in his expressive path;
1984 - School of San Giovanni Evangelista in Venice, with the exhibition "The Quartet", curated by Achille Bonito Oliva, exhibits the portraits of the artists Beuys, Cucchi, Fabro and Nauman;
1985 - Merchant at the Parma Fair with the exhibition "Maria Mulas: photography 1970-1980"; 1989 - Cloister of the Juvarra in Turin;
1990 - Galleria d'Arte Moderna di Paternò, exhibition of 80 portraits entitled “Vis à vis” (catalog published by Electa); the same then re-presented at the Gallery of Modern Art in Bologna;
1991 - Cascina Grande di Rozzano, “Portraits of artists yesterday and today”;
1991 - Suzzara Modern Art Gallery;
1991 - Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara, “Maria Mulas 1970-1990 - Writing of light”; 1992 - Scenidea Association of Salerno, "Women of theater and theater of women";
1992 - Pasquini Castle of Castiglioncello;
1993 - USIS of Milan;
1993 - The Arsenale Gallery of Iseo;
1993 - Feltrinelli bookshop in Milan;
1993 - Rocca Paolina of Perugia;
1993 - Plurima Gallery in Udine;
1993 - Vigato Gallery in Alessandria;
1993 - Cultural Association of the Friends of Monterone; 1994 - Sumithra Studio of Ravenna;
1995 - present at the Venice Biennale in the exhibition curated by the Alinari Art Institute and in the exhibition “Identity and difference - Artist's books: Dinosaurs and roses”;
1996 - Bocconi University of Milan;
1996 - Il Cancello Gallery in Milan;
1996 - Il Milione Gallery in Milan;
1998 - Arengario di Milano, Palazzo Reale, large monographic retrospective with more than three hundred works entitled “Miraggi” (catalog published by Leonardo Arte - Electa);
1999 - Lecco Photography Festival;
2001 - Pecci Museum of Prato;
2001 - Poggi Gallery in Ravenna (catalog published by Prearo);
2002 - Museum of Contemporary Art of Tortolì;
2002 - Cultural Center of Santa Maria della Pietà in Cremona;
2003 - Spazio Belforte in Livorno and at Studio Guastalla in Milan;
2006 - Zappettini Foundation of Milan (catalog of the foundation);
2006 - Cloister of Contemporary Art of Saronno (catalog published by Nomos Edizioni);
2007 - Daniela Rallo Gallery in Cremona (catalog published by Nomos Edizioni);
2007 - Italian Cultural Institute in London, exhibition entitled “Bring me the sunset in a cup” (catalog published by Skira);
2007 - Studio Raffaelli of Trento, “Work in progress” catalog of the Raffaelli Art Studio | Palazzo Wolkenstein);
2009 - Varart Gallery in Florence (gallery catalog);
2009 - Galleria Santo Ficara, Florence (gallery catalog);
2010 - Cortina Gallery, Milan;
2010 - Galerie Orenda in Paris, “Poetic Energies”;
2010 - Galleria Al Blu di Prussia in Naples, “Seeing the things that no eye has scrutinized”;
2012 - Art School of Brera in Milan, “Fuori Campo” (Quaderni di Brera catalog);
2012 - Palazzo Reale in Milan, "Farewell to the 70s Art in Milan 1969-1980" by Francesco Bonami (catalog published by Mousse Publisching);
2013 - Pecci Museum in Prato (Milan office), “By combination: other proposals from the Museum's collection - Special project for Maria Mulas: 50 photographic portraits of artists and critics”;
2014 - Museum of Rome in Trastevere, “The Italian landscape. Photographs 1950 - 2010 ";
2014 - Rocca Roveresca di Senigallia, "Portraits of the protagonists and protagonists of the '900";
2014 - Altan Palace in San Vito al Tagliamento | Pordenone, Maria Mulas. “Portraits: a sixtieth of a second”, museum catalog;
2014 - Nori de 'Nobili Museum, Senigallia, Maria Mulas, “Portraits”, museum catalog;
2014 - Poldi Pezzoli Museum, Milan, “The Ladies of the Pollaiolo. Each woman has her own profile: the ladies of the Pollaiolo family inspire great photographers ”;
2015 - Galleria Gallerja, Rome, “It's all inclusive” curated by Bruno Corà;
2015 - Villa Onigo, Trevignano (TV), "Self-portrait in contemporary photography", curated by Francesca della Toffola and Giorgio Bonomi
2015 - Galleria Twenty14, Milan, “Suspect”, text by Antonella Scaramuzzino
2015 - Museum of Palazzo Pretorio, Prato, “Synchronicity. Contemporaries, from Lippi to Warhol ”curated by Stefano Pezzato
2015 - Sannita Photographic Circle, on the occasion of The International Trophies of Photography, Benevento, "Maria Mulas, Stories: The unit of measurement of my presence"
2015 - Studio Arti Visive, Matera, “Suspect”, text by Antonella Scaramuzzino
2016 - Italian Cultural Institute, Zagreb, Croatia, "Maria Mulas, Italian portraits" by Martina Coronati
2016 - Castello Carlo V, Lecce, "Andy Warhol - Ladies vs Gentleman and the shots of Maria Mulas" by Lorenzo Madaro
2016 - Pirelli Skyscraper, Milan, "Duomedia in Photography. Maria Mulas" curated by Carmelo Strano and Ante Glibota
In 2009 she won the Prize of the Arts - Prize of Culture for Photography with the following motivation: "The photographic eye of Maria Mulas has found, in the dialectic of experience and in absolute portraits, the moment of an immortalized story where aesthetic value and technique of the parts mark the highest chapter in the photographic history of the last decades ".