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27 March 2025 - 29 June 2025, Villa Malpensata, Lugano

Ars Canusina. Arte e artigianato dei bambini della Colonia-Scuola «A. Marro»

Ars Canusina inaugurates the thirteenth chapter of the ‘Dèibambini’ cycle, dedicated since 2006 to children's creativity. Curated by Massimilano Vitali and Chiara Bombardieri, the project was conceived by MUSEC and shared from the beginning by the Azienda Unità Sanitaria Locale in Reggio Emilia, with the collaboration of the Diocese of Reggio Emilia and Guastalla (Diocesan Museum), and the Association ‘Ars Canusina’ in Bibbiano (Reggio Emilia) and investigates the interaction between art, craftsmanship and psycho-pedagogy through the textiles and ceramics created by the children of the Colony-School ‘A. Marro’, under the guidance of the psychiatrist Maria Bertolani Del Rio (1892-1978).

To understand the story of the ‘A. Marro’ Colony-School and the Ars Canusina art therapy experience, we must first remember that it took place almost entirely in a Europe intimidated by the irrational policies of totalitarian regimes and the brutal attempt to ‘improve the race starting with maternity and childhood’. In a context characterised by psychotherapeutic concepts that were still purely positivist, thanks to the innovative, courageous and diligent work of Maria Bertolani del Rio (1892-1978), hundreds of children with psychiatric or behavioural problems were able to significantly improve their condition and in many cases be reintegrated into society. An important part of the therapy followed in the School-Colony was the artisanal and artistic application of a real ‘alphabet of ornamentation’ based on the motifs of Romanesque sculpture from Reggio: signs commonly found in the imagination of children and young people who found a way to express through creativity an innate need for harmony and ‘regularity’, gradually acquiring a calmer, more stable and orderly sense of their sensory and human experience.

locandina

Foto gallery

The Exhibition

Set up in the Spazio Maraini, the temporary exhibition presents more than sixty works created by the children and youngsters of the ‘A. Marro’ Colony-School between 1932 and 1952: leather albums, terracotta, enamelled ceramics and precious polychrome embroideries, the latter being the result of a truly extraordinary mastery.

The works and historical documents come from the Archives of the former ‘San Lazzaro’ Psychiatric Hospital in Reggio Emilia, now part of the Department of Mental Health and Pathological Addictions of the Emilia-Romagna Regional Health Service.

The exhibition is also enriched by two sculpted capitals and two bas-reliefs in Romanesque Matildic style (9th-13th century), from the collections of the Diocesan Museum of Reggio Emilia and Guastalla, as well as a large number of historical photographs documenting daily life inside the Colony-School.

The notes of Arvo Pärt's piece from the collection entitled Inner Voice, Centaur Records, Baton Rouge (LA) 2010, track no. 5, on viola Peter Minkler and piano Lura Johnson, accompany the visitor, creating a pure and rarefied atmosphere that encourages a contemplative approach to the vision of the children's artefacts.

The Catalogue

Ars Canusina. Arte e artigianato dei bambini della Colonia-Scuola «A. Marro», a cura di Chiara Bombardieri e Massimiliano Vitali, 2025. Pp. 304. 31 ill.ni in b/n e 112 ill.ni a colori n.t. ISBN 979-12-80443-27-4. CHF/€ 32.

Dèibambini/13