Made in Italy. Destination America 1945-1954
curated by Paola Cordera and Davide Turrini
5 April – 29 June 2025
| Opening hours: | from Tuesday to Sunday 10 am to 6 pm |
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Admission ticket: |
Admission ticket: 8 euro Discount ticket (5 euro) for: • Artsupp Card holders • Complesso Museale e Archeologico della Cattedrale di Lucca ticket holders • groups of more than 15 • visitors under 18 years • college students, students enrolled in art schools and conservatories with school ID. Admission free for: • children under 6 years • visitors with disabilities (as well as those accompanying them) • one person accompanying per group • Tuscan university students with university ID • school groups (elementary, middle, and high school) • teachers • ICOM members • reporters and tourist-guides with professional ID • members of the military with military ID. |
| Info: | info@fondazioneragghianti.it
T. 0583 467205 |
In the years immediately following the Second World War, marked by the implementation of the Marshall plan and by the start of the Cold War, the relations between Italy and the United States resulted in a series of activities aimed at promoting the artistic, handicraft and industrial production of the Peninsula and at supporting its future developments.
The initiatives undertaken by CADMA – Commissione Assistenza Distribuzione Materiali Artigianato (1945-1948), by CNA – Compagnia Nazionale Artigiana (1948-1977) and by HDI – Handicraft Development Inc. (1947-1956) gave birth to events which proved to be formidable promotional instruments for the penetration of Italian products in America: the exhibitions at the House of Italian Handicrafts (1947-1956), the travelling exposition Italy at Work. Her Renaissance in Design Today (1950-1953) and the concomitant trade show of Italian products in stores such as Macy’s and Kauffmann demonstrated their effectiveness in proposing a model capable of combining the quality of a product with an attractive immersive presentation.
The exhibition Made in Italy. Destination America 1945-1954 returns this scenario through one hundred and seventy works which recompose a collective imaginary identity, widely used, for a long time, in the valorisation of the “designed and made in Italy”. The exhibition, articulated in four sections, gives a new voice to pictorial, sculptural and graphic works, applied art and design objects, fashion accessories, exhibition design sketches, documents of various kinds and posters of that time highlighting a heritage spread through Italy, as well as the history of fine manufacturing, some of which are still active nowadays.
The first section of the exhibition, The house of the Italian craftmanship. From Florence to New York, focuses on the activities of the CADMA and HDI, of which Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti was the protagonist; the second one, Journey to Italy, is dedicated to the preparation process of the exhibition Italy at Work; the third, Italian Lifestyle, investigates the American exhibition, with particular reference to the interior designs and to the objects actually exposed; lastly, New shapes and new routes explores some of the new production and promotion trends from Italy to the United States in the years that followed Italy at Work.