MILAN MILANO ITALY | VIA MONTENAPOLEONE PEOPLE & EVENTS | PEOPLE & EVENTS IN VIA MONTENAPOLEONE

Could this be the occasion to reflect on life and its fleetingness?

In reality, each of the different seasons of life are characterised by a profound sense of the dynamism required to cope with everyday life: from childhood to maturity to old age, when an additional support is needed to continue along the difficult path of old age.
And it is to the cane that this exhibition is dedicated; as well as evoking this specific stage of the life of man, the cane evokes many symbols, one of which is mentioned by Vittorio Sgarbi, councillor responsible for culture for the municipality of Milan, who notes in the catalogue: «The cane is obviously a symbol of the power of man for metaphysical reasons: the authority of the male is linked to the seed, to the phallus, the staff. History itself is represented in that cane because the generation of the world depends on man. The idea that the cane affirms the simple identification of the male with power makes this exhibition a long metaphor.» (Edizioni delle Raccolte Storiche of the municipality of Milan). Canes. Matter, Art, Power is the title of the exhibition curated by Renzo Traballesi, as curious as it is filled with fascinating metaphors. The exhibition runs until 3 June at the Contemporary History Museum in Milan and has been organised in collaboration with the Institute for the History of the Italian Risorgimento, Committee of Milan.
There have only been two similar exhibitions in the past, as Stefano Amidei notes in his text in the catalogue: «The first took place in 1980 when a similar exhibition was organised in Paris, curated by the collector Catherine Dike, while the second, more recent, was held in Siena in the summer of 2006 and was staged in the San Leopoldo room at the Museum of Santa Maria della Scala». Indeed it is the Siennese exhibition which fa capolino a Milano with 529 pieces from museums and private collections from all over the world, realised between the XIV and XX centuries, divided by type among 8 rooms. Such a large exhibition, it must be said, demonstrates just how much a simple «branch has stimulated the creative spirit of man, elevating it to the rank of the cane, progressively loading it with symbolic and spiritual values,» as noted by Aldo Gerardi, Renzo Traballesi and Alberto Zina in the Eulogy to the Cane in the catalogue.
A truly extraordinary creativity, developed by artists not only from Italy, but also from Britain and France, who have created canes which in the exhibition are classified into two large areas: single-function and multi-function; the latter includes those with accessories or which have some kind of system. Each type has precise characteristics which make each cane a truly unique piece, and some even amusing.
Among the many types on display, seventeen in all, it is worth mentioning the audacious, the explicit and sensual, the erotic canes and the highly elegant examples in ivory; particularly interesting are the popular ethnic canes with intricate wooden carvings. The exhibition also includes multi-functional canes, made between the end of the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries, including the extraordinarily unusual cane produced in France at the end of the XIX century, which becomes a music stand for street musicians. The extravagant usage possibilities of this cane shows in certain senses just how much the applied arts have been able to focus not only on the functionality and usefulness of the created object, but also on its beauty to make it more pleasant to use.
In short, art has fulfilled its task as a healthy bringer of taste for the beautiful!

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