Suzzara, City Gallery of Contemporary Art

The City Gallery of Contemporary Art of Suzzara, established in 1974, displays important works of art that have been acquired over the years thanks to the collaboration with the organizers of the "Premio Suzzara" award. The "Premio Suzzara" prize, first awarded in 1948, differed from similar initiatives of the time for two main reasons: the composition of the jury and the nature of the awards. The jury was not composed by experts, i.e. managers of art galleries, historians and art critics, alone, but also by a worker, an office worker and a farmer. The awards made available by the farmers and workers of Suzzara consisted in products of the work of men and the land (a whole grana reggiano cheese, a lamb, a cheap kitchen, a barrel of wine, butter, salamies, poltrage, eggs, etc. ...). The original idea that made the Premio Suzzara event successful lied in the fact that the products of art and work were put on the same footing, thereby favouring a par exchange and using the phrase “Work and workers in Art” as a title for the review. The award soon focussed its attention on realism in art, which is always particularly sensitive to social problems. The artworks awarded are owned by the municipality, yet they have over time made up an extremely rich historical and art heritage, with works by important artists like Renato Guttuso, Aligi Sassu, Renato Birolli, Bepi Romagnoli, Giuseppe Zigaina and Antonio Ligabue. The visit to the works is supported by a historical and teaching pathway called “La tradizione del realismo”, i.e. the Tradition of Realism, which consists of panels with photographs and texts that make it possible to historically contextualize the art trend characterizing the collection. The exhibition is completed by temporary shows, which are from time to time devoted to different authors, topics and languages.