Notes for a story about the world's first asphalt painting competition
Paola Artoni
If you had the opportunity to fly over the village of Grazie between 14 and 15 August, you could contemplate a corner of luminous beauty of the Mantuan land. The monumental complex of the Marian sanctuary would appear terracotta-colored to us, lying on the bend of the Mincio river where the stream rests, becomes a lake and, at that particular time of the year, is tinged with the pink of lotus flowers. In that view, the Sanctuary would seem to embrace the square until it became one with it and the churchyard would give us the feeling of having entered the temple. The aerial vision, if you want a symbolic reference and reminder of the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin, would require at this point to leave the sky and the silence of this contemplation to descend to the earth in the swarm of the people who converge here from countries and cities in a rite sacred and profane at the same time. Once in the churchyard, we would find ourselves stepping on not the dirt that had dusted the steps of our ancestors during their centuries-old pilgrimages, but rather a paved square populated by hundreds of artists working with colored powders and pastels spread with the oldest tools that man has at his disposal: his own hands.
It is an unforgettable experience to be able to reach Grazie on August 14, when the summer sky at dusk welcomes the madonnari and becomes the prelude to a special night. In fact, the work will continue until dawn, amid the whispers and the increasingly loud voices of the pilgrims who will arrive at Grazie on foot and by bike to attend the solemn services of the Feast of the Assumption. The effort of the Madonnari will not stop even under the most intense midday sun and will end only at sunset, just as it began the day before. At that point the artists will leave their pitches, the jury will deliver their official verdict and the crowd will continue to express their preferences aloud.
Madonnari: in the name the sense of a meaning
It is in Grazie di Curtatone (MN) where for the first time street painters were officially called 'madonnari' (the definition of 'madonnari' was also used in Mantua to indicate those who were involved in the sale of religious objects and holy cards). Still different is the denomination of “Madoneri” (with which it is customary to indicate the painters of Greco-Byzantine icons), and where Madonnara art has found a wide comparison on what characterizes it. First of all, the art of the madonnari is sacred art and is inspired by the Christian tradition, “sacred” (the term “sacred” refers to the meaning of sakros, which in turn taken from Greek in archaic Latin indicates what is dedicated to divinity and to his cult. It is not a specification without account because there are many expressions of sacred art in the world but which refer to other religions.) therefore because of the theme that street painters develop but also because of the 'sacrifice' that they themselves make in painting, bent down on the asphalt, blending colors with their fingertips. Secondly, it is a popular art and for its characters (the simplicity of the lines and colors, the stylization of the shapes) it is immediately understood and loved by the public (The paintings of the madonnari belong to the type of Christian folk sacred art like nativity scenes, statues of dressed Madonnas, crosses with the symbols of the Passion, the shrines and the ex-vota by grace received. It should be specified that the Madonnari are required to adhere to the theme without any individual “profession of faith”, and that is why artists of religions other than the Christian one have also found themselves working on the square). Finally, the art of the Madonnari is an “ephemeral” art (The term derives from the late Latin ephemerus and means “that lasts a single day”), with paintings made with poverty of means, at the mercy of the weather, subjected to the vagaries of the climate and summer showers (In the type of sacred and popular art of Catholic tradition there are flowers, while as far as other cultures and religions are concerned, there are points of contact with Indian kolams (lines of rice powder stretched out by hand). by women on soil prepared with a mixture of cattle manure and water that, according to tradition, purifies the place), Navajo sand paintings and Tibetan sand mandalas, whose destruction is a precise ritual ceremony, with the sand used being released into nature).
The madonnaires at work trace their work with charcoals, chalks, colored powders and take a special look at the sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin. It is certainly no coincidence that the face of the Marian icon preserved inside the Sanctuary, a very sweet Mother who holds the Child in her arms, is often the protagonist of the paintings, as well as the architecture of the temple, begun in 1399 and consecrated in 1406 at the behest of the Gonzaga family as an ex-vote for the end of the plague, are traced on the asphalt as a backdrop for the sacred scenes represented (Even in the sanctuary, the subject of Paolo Bertelli's contribution published here, there are expressions of ephemeral, sacred art and popular, just think of the polymaterial statues that are placed on the niches of the large wooden scaffold leaning against the walls of the nave. The statues, made of poor materials such as pinstripe and painted canvas, are padded with bamboo and represent all humanity: the pope, the emperor, the princes and princesses but also warriors and those sentenced to death who received salvation by invoking the Virgin. The wooden scaffold is also covered with anatomical ex vota (representing hands, feet, breasts and bobbons) made of wax.). Another famous ex-vota often depicted in the paintings of the Madonnari is the Grazie crocodile, a reptile stuffed for centuries hanging from the vaults of the sanctuary's nave, a symbol of the devil defeated by the Virgin.
Brief history: from its origins to today
It was 1973 when, in the context of the initiatives promoted by the Mantua Provincial Tourism Authority, the Municipality of Curtatone and the Pro Loco (which already organized the religious painting festival “Ubi Caritas” on the occasion of the Fair of Grazie), created the Meeting of the Madonnari (Initially the competition was called “National Meeting of the Madonnari Golden Chalk Award”, later it will be called “National Meeting of the Madonnari”) with the support of the Mantuan journalist Maria Grazia Fringuellini, by folklore expert Gilberto Boschesi and with the participation in that first edition of figures known to the general public such as the television journalist Enzo Tortora and Dino Villani, the brilliant inventor of popular events such as Mother's Day and Miss Italy (The 1973 competition was reserved for popular painters, including naive ones, and it was expressly requested that the subjects be religious in nature). The appointment is scheduled for August 15, Feast of the Assumption, starting at 9 am, and the regulations state that no more than two works can be performed in the morning. At 4 p.m., the gold, silver and pewter chalk is awarded. In recent years, the competition has been expanded because the madonnari start working at sunset on August 14 and are awarded 24 hours later). If the oldest photo of an Italian street painter known so far dates back to 1921 and portrays Franz Klammer from Val Sarentino (Bolzano) and if some old photos document the work of street painters engaged in depicting patron saints created on the occasion of traditional festivals in Southern Italy, it must be said that no gathering of this type had ever been organized before 1973 and that the Piazza di Grazie can claim a real record in this regard. The competition therefore also had the merit of saving a type of art that was destined to end and of finally clearing customs a type of painting that was often censored as 'begging'. As expected, since the first edition, the Apulian madonnari have established themselves, thanks to a consolidated tradition that saw them working on the occasion of the holidays. Among the names of those who wrote the history of the competition are the first Golden Chalk Francesco Prisciandaro (1922-2008) from Bari Palese, awarded multiple awards in the Seventies, memorable for his bloody temperament, but also Domenico Morgese, Grillo, Picci.
The new generation that became established soon after is led by Flavio Sirio, who will dominate the square even in the Eighties and Nineties with subjects much loved by the public such as Dalì's Crucifix, Raphael's Madonna of the Chair and the Face of the Jesus of Nazareth by Zeffirelli, and who will animate an important school of chalk art with students destined to excel in the square in the following years. In 1985, for the first time, the madonnari were divided into three categories (Masters, Qualified, Simple). In the competition, Domenico Morgese from Bari stands out, whose presence is strongly symbolic and represents the square of Grazie as it was in the Eighties, that is, a meeting between the traditional school (which, as mentioned, had its strongest expressions in the Apulian representatives) and the innovations given by young people trained in academies, come from all over Europe and the United States. Among them all, the talent and technique of the American Kurt Wenner stand out, a profound connoisseur of Italian Renaissance and mannerist art who applies the secrets of anamorphic perspective effects to painting on asphalt and gives the illusion of knowing how to “pierce” asphalt (His works are considered among the first examples of what today, after thirty years, is a universally widespread art known by street art as 3D art. Allow me to refer to the catalog of the exhibition set up in 2002 at the Gazoldo degli Ippoliti Museum of Modern Art, entitled Kurt Wenner. Master Artist, edited by me and with a text by Paolo Bertelli). Wenner himself will be entrusted with the task of designing an immense painting (25x5 meters), created by a team of more than thirty madonnari, on the occasion of the visit to Mantua of the pope, future saint, John Paul II, in June 1991. The Last Judgment is so appreciated by the pope that it was signed by the pontiff himself and with that simple gesture art. This is a public and official recognition for the madonnari, who up to that moment had many problems getting accepted in the squares. After this symbolic watershed, the competition gradually sees the emergence of a new generation of asphalt painters, especially women: the first Madonnara teacher is Anna Durando from Piedmont, while the first Madonnara teacher from Mantua is Cristina Cottarelli, a pioneer for the girls who will be the Madonna teachers from 2000 onwards. In fact, in the most recent years, what had occurred at the end of the nineties has been confirmed, namely the increasingly marked tendency of the competition to be international and the presence of women on the top steps of the podium.
Materials and techniques
The art of the madonnari is ephemeral, that is, it involves the use of materials that are not destined to last over time (If we were to indicate a similar art that summarizes the characteristics of ephemeral, sacred and popular art, we could refer in the Christian context to flower beds, while for other cultures, there are points of contact with Indian kolams (lines of rice dust spread by hand by women), Navajo sand paintings and Tibetan sand mandalas, whose destruction is a precise ritual ceremony, with the sand used that is released into nature). The artists paint on an asphalt support, bituminous, grainy and very rough to the touch, spreading the color with their fingertips. No preparation of the background is allowed except a coating of powdered pigment, at most water and sugar, sometimes even beer, to make the color “hold” better. The madonnari often create the preparatory drawing with the help of a square, which allows them to make the copy on a larger scale than the sketch from which they are inspired, while the more experienced among them execute the drawing freehand. The drawing is traced with brown blood or crayons, then the color is drawn with colored pastels. Both the pastels on the market and the “chalks” made by hand include a basic recipe in which beeswax and gum are emulsified and mixed with powdered pigments, in order to obtain a wide range of colors. At the end of the work, no fixative is usually applied.
In the Mantua and Brescia area, originally the materials used to paint the Madonnari were colored earth and stones from the lake. Ugo Bonsio, known as the “madonnaro del Garda”, traced his popular faces of Pope John XXIII precisely with these humble means, and Andrea Mariano Bottoli, witness to Bonsio's work, dedicated a work of his own invention to him created with the same means.
As far as the method of applying color is concerned, it should be remembered that the oldest tradition of the madonnari involves the use of gradient, that is, the use of a series of delicate color passages made with the drafting of the various shades of colored pastels. Gradient is a difficult technique that puts a strain on artists' fingertips but which, however, renders an effect of great softness. In the Eighties, the new generation of painters, trained in art schools and academies, experimented with new techniques such as the drawing, according to the principle of divisionist painting, or the colored dashes of the chalks “recomposed” in the spectator's eye, creating very incisive colors and an effect very close to contemporary sensitivity.
In recent years, chalk masters are very fond of mixing shades and lines with a particular ability to make the colors very bright and orange. A contrast that combines perfectly with the dark base of the asphalt and that is very impressive. Then there is no shortage of daring painters who also propose monochromes, which are particularly difficult to render.
As far as the perspective construction of the paintings is concerned, it can be seen that, starting in the Eighties, the application of anamorphosis, a technique that allows giving depth and three-dimensional effect to paintings, has been very lucky.
The transmission of knowledge, models and themes
From the point of view of technique, the painting of the Madonnari is becoming increasingly specialized thanks to the comparison between artists and the transmission of knowledge, which takes place through chalk schools organized for children and adults (In recent years, several courses have been organized, most recently, the two editions of the Madonnara di Grazie School of Art, organized by the Municipality, Pro Loco and Centro Italiano Madonnari) but also with the numerous events that, throughout the year, are organized in Italian squares. Particularly significant with regard to the exchange and sharing between chalk artists are the international festivals, organized mainly in Europe and America (the United States and Mexico in particular).
If international events do not require the development of the sacred theme, what instead characterizes Grazie also passes through the themes addressed, which, by regulation, are an expression of the sacred Christian tradition, without this excluding the inspirations drawn from current events. It is these last choices that are often combined with photographic painting and it should be remembered that the first to work in this regard was the Spaniard Fernando Villaroya, who in the Eighties was able to combine the reproduction in black and white of dramatic reportage photos with the colors of sacred subjects.
Among the examples of original, creative painting always inspired by the folkloric and naturalistic context and the people of Grazie, a special mention goes to a charismatic figure such as that of Toto De Angelis, known as “Straccetto”, a generous artist with a thousand colors who recently passed away, who has been able to become one of the most beloved symbols of the Grazie competition (For the profile of this artist, refer to his autobiography: T. de Angelis, Io Straccetto street artist, edited by A. dalla Acqua, Sometti, Mantua 2012).
But who inspired the art of the Madonnari? Without a doubt, Raphael was once among the most copied authors, and then a very “Caravaggesque” season was seen on the one hand and on the other with references to a revival of Mannerism (with the artistic movement that found its most cultured exponent in Andrea Mariano Bottoli, capable of giving life to original, refined and very profound iconography, even from a theological point of view). More recently, the inspirations also draw on the romantic nineteenth century and there are always some references to current events, to be read in a dimension of invocation and prayer. There were also some performances (memorable that of the artist who, once finished his work, sprinkled his body with clay and imitated the pose of the bronze trophy by the Madonnari) that acted on the spectacular aspect of the events. On these and other suggestions, the new challenges of the competition will move, a treasure of tradition and, at the same time, a mirror of a world that, despite being in rapid movement, can only abandon itself to the emotions that the Madonnari, with the sole force of their passion and their sacrifice, are still able to communicate.
The Centro Italiano Madonnari and the Museo dei Madonnari: preserving the ephemeral
In the history of the Meeting of Grazie, starting in 1998, the Centro Italiano Madonnari has been active, a voluntary association that promotes, disseminates and perpetuates the National Meeting of Madonnari of Grazie, encourages young painters, preserves the historical memory of the competition and publicizes the activity of asphalt painters (It should be specified that, as indicated in art. 14 of the CIM Statute, “the assumption of financial management of the event called National Meeting of the Madonnari, of the museum of Madonnari, the chalk school and all the other events that the CIM body promotes, is the responsibility of the Pro Loco association of Curtatone”). In this sense, it is therefore essential to strengthen the cultural operation carried out by the Museo dei Madonnari di Grazie, which is located between the square of the sanctuary and the square of the Madonna of the Snow. It is a museum by its very nature that is always in progress, where the preservation of this particular street art is guaranteed by the collection of some panels painted in chalk, by tablets made with clay (a memory of when asphalt was not yet used), by the documentation collected and filed (photos, posters, specific publications, videos, sketches...). The use is aimed both at a wide audience and at those who approach this art with a historical, artistic and critical approach. This continuous challenge of preserving and handing down an ephemeral art, in a single apparent contradiction in terms, opens up important scenarios, also linked to museum education and promotion aimed at pilgrims and tourists... but this is another adventure, in many ways still to be written but already full of important premises, on which we hope to be able to work with ever greater energy in the coming years.