On March 5, at the Zambian-Italian Cultural Centre, Art Historian and Curator Dr. Consuelo Lollobrigida held a lecture called “Women in Art”, during which she talked about the role of women in art history from the XV century up to modern times.
The event, organized in collaboration with CHENA Art Gallery, inaugurated a three-days art exhibition where several artists presented their artwork, therefore creating a connection between the women protagonists of art in the past and the creative work of contemporary Zambian artists.
During the conference, organized in view of Women’s Day on March 8, celebrated in Zambia as a national holiday, Dr. Consuelo Lollobrigida led the public through a short chronological itinerary to the discovery of a part of art history that is often given little attention, telling the story of some of the most influential women artists of all time.
At the center of Dr. Lollobrigida’s conference were some of the leading painters of all time: the nun Plautilla Nelli, the baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi, Elisabeth Vigèe le Brun, the “free spirit”, the “new woman” Rosa Bonheur, the cosmopolitan Tamara de Lempicka and the gentle Frida Khalo. A virtual overview allowed the public to learn about the exceptional contribution of these women to both art history and civil rights development in Western society.
With the seminar “Women in Art” the Italian Embassy in Zambia renovated its effort aimed at promoting and disseminating Italian culture in the country. This effort included the organization of several seminars, events, and artistic collaborations with important Italian theaters, such as the Piccolo Teatro of Milan. Among the most recent activities are a cycle of conferences called “The secrets of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel”, held by Prof. Costantino d’Orazio and dedicated to the description of some of Michelangelo’s pictorial masterpieces, and the webinar “An afternoon with Dante Alighieri”, organized by Prof. Claudio Giunta on the 700th Anniversary the poet’s death.
The video of the event is available on the Embassy’s YouTube channel.
