Washington, D.C. -- The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) will present, for the first time in Washington, D.C., an exhibition of visual and concrete poetry by Mirella Bentivoglio, one of the most important contemporary artists in Italy to explore the relationship between language and image. Among the 50 pieces on display in the museum's Library and Research Center are works of visual and concrete poetry, photomontages, collages, and unique artist's books.

Unlike most poets, Bentivoglio presents poetry liberated from the traditionally printed page. The artist plays with words, breaking rules of syntax, detaching words from phrases, and isolating letters from words. The result of these experiments -- concrete and visual poems -- are perceived as signs, symbols, and metaphors.

Bentivoglio uses images from the mass media, altering their previous meaning through the creation of new captions. One of her works in the exhibition, Black Flower, was inspired by a newspaper photograph of a funeral. The caption noted that 200 black men and women had attended the funeral of Donald Rick Dowell, who had been killed by a policeman, and that the clothes, coffin, horses, and even the flowers, were black. Bentivoglio, fascinated by the story, cut out the photograph and transformed it into a black flower. She arranged the words of the caption into the shape of a cross, which doubles as the stem and leaves of the flower.

In the late 1960s Bentivoglio began to create unique artist's books or object-books using marble, stone, and earth. The Reality and the Book, for example, alludes to the story of Snow White asleep in her crystal coffin, inside a stone grotto-like book cover. Bentivoglio explains: "In 1966, I volunteered to help save the ancient books imperiled by the flood in Florence. What a loss it would have been if we had not arrived in time! We worked day and night putting leaves in between the wet pages to keep them separated from each other.... In some way, I wanted to make books from a material that could not be easily damaged."

Bentivoglio was born in Austria of Italian parents in 1922. Her first book of poetry was published in 1943. In the 1960s she joined the international concrete poetry movement and the Italian Poesia Visiva (visual poetry) group. She has participated in over 900 solo and group exhibitions all over the world, including the Venice Biennale (five times), Sao Paulo Biennial (three times), Centre Georges Pompidou, and the Museum of Modern Art. She is a renowned sculptor and performance artist, and her sculpture The Egg of Gubbio is considered the first feminist public work in Italy. Bentivoglio has also curated exhibitions in Europe, Australia, Japan, and North and South America on artists who explore the relationships between language and image. Her research has brought recognition to many forgotten women artists, in particular to those who were active in the Futurist movement.

The exhibition catalogue contains an essay on Bentivoglio's work by Professor Frances K. Pohl of Pomona College, Claremont, Calif., and an interview with the artist by Krystyna Wasserman, curator of the exhibition and director of the Library and Research Center. It also includes photographs of Bentivoglio's work, an exhibition checklist, the artist's exhibition history, and a selected bibliography. It will be available from the museum shop.

The Visual Poetry of Mirella Bentivoglio was organized by NMWA in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute of Washington, D.C. At NMWA on March 1 at 6:30 p.m., the artist will discuss her work, followed by a reception. This event is free; call 202.783.7370 for reservations. From March 2—31, the Italian Cultural Institute will present large photographic panels depicting Bentivoglio’s public sculptures and videos of her performance art. Call 202.387.5161, ext. 23 for details.

The National Museum of Women in the Arts, founded in 1981 and opened in 1987, is the only museum dedicated solely to celebrating the achievements of women in the visual, performing, and literary arts. Its collection contains approximately 2500 works by more than 650 artists, including Camille Claudel, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Mary Cassatt. The museum also conducts public programs, maintains a Library and Research Center, publishes a quarterly magazine, and supports 21 state chapters. Since 1984 nearly 200,000 people have joined as members in support of the museum and its mission. NMWA is located at 1250 New York Avenue, NW, one block north of Metro Center. The museum is open Monday—Saturday, 10 a.m.—5 p.m., and Sunday, noon—5 p.m. A donation of $3 for adults and $2 for students and seniors is suggested. For information call 202.783.5000. Further information is available on the NMWA website, www.nmwa.org.

# # #