Centaur was born from a forbidden love between a king and a goddess’s doppelgänger, and thus was born deformed. From his matings with certain mares came those beings, half-man and half-horse, that we call centaurs. Defined as crude, violent beings, wine-lovers and brutes, in reality, centaurs are characterized by their exceptional skill in archery, thanks to which they were enlisted in battle. While the first figurative representation of the centaur is a Mycenaean terracotta piece, we are dealing with a myth that has found its place in art since the second millennium BC. A rich artistic anthology, thanks to the curatorship of Luciano Rivi, reintroduces the way this character has been depicted throughout art history and the profound intertwining of this mythical icon with the human psyche. “Ferine Creatures: Centaurs, Fauns, Myths in the Work of Jules van Biesbroeck and in the Modern Imagination” is the title of the exhibition housed in the BPER Corporate Collection Gallery in Modena.
Jules van Biesbroeck, “A Bather (Susanna Bathing)”, circa 1915, pastel on cardboard, 34.5 x 24.7 cm; “Male Nude (Samson in Torture)”, circa 1920, shaded black charcoal on dusting paper, 61.8 x 47.3 cm, BPER Banca Ferrara Collection, courtesy BPER LaGalleria Corporate Collection
Although the title explicitly references Jules van Biesbroeck, the exhibition also includes works by other artists, spanning a timeline that extends into the full 20th century, and various expressive modalities beyond painting, such as pastel, aquatint, sculpture and poster art, almost always focusing on the myth of the centaur and its variations in art. Central to the exhibition is the creativity of the Belgian artist, born in Portici in 1873 and died in Brussels in 1965, who had a marked sensitivity for this Mediterranean myth during a turbulent period on the European continent, grappling with the aftermath of the First World War. After all, it was Nietzsche himself who, from the pages of “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”, cried out to European society that it was a hybrid between plant and phantom, in need of a superman. We’ve already mentioned that almost all the works on display are themed around the centaur, and indeed the visitor is greeted by “A Bather” (pastel on cardboard, 1915) and a “Male Nude” (black charcoal on paper, 1920). These two works do not depict centaurs but evoke their presence: the bather, in fact, seems portrayed at the precise moment when she shows a terrified attitude toward the mystery that lies behind her. The naked man has a strength and energy that recall the warlike character of the centaur. Both magnificent small works are flanked by the first actual centaur. In fact, two centaurs face each other in a small watercolor and pastel, evoking a brutal and striking aggression (“Fight of Two Centaurs”, 1921).
Jules van Biesbroeck, “Centaur Killing a Deer”, circa 1918, oil on hardboard, 118 x 52 cm, BPER Banca Collection, Ferrara, courtesy BPER LaGalleria Corporate Collection; Luigi Ontani, “Gigante3razzEtá7ArtiCentAuro”, 2007, bronze, 96 x 98 x 104 cm, Luigi Ontani Collection, Bologna, courtesy BPER LaGalleria Corporate Collection
A bronze sculpture by Luigi Ontani bursts into the visitor’s path: “Gigante3razzEtá7ArtiCentAuro” (2007). The title already hints at the provocative sense of the artist, which finds perfect congruence in the displayed work, where hybridization occurs on multiple levels (male/female, human/animal, etc.). The sculptural section continues with “Pan” (1910), a significant plaster block that shares with the centaur, mythologically speaking, the character feared by humans and the tendency toward wine-induced merriment. After a block of small representations by van Biesbroeck, highly heterogeneous from an expressive point of view and suspended between Nordic sensitivity (Study for “The Happy Sojourn”, 1918) and marine warmth (“Floridum mare”), one arrives before two significant canvases in terms of size, depicting two variations of beauty. The “Woman of the Peacock” (1905) and “Beauty” (1907) are included in the chapter dedicated to Kallós (‘Beauty’) and show two semi-nude women in the act of receiving (or holding with the left hand) a white flower, very academic in tone and above all neoclassical in style.
Franz von Stuck, “Satiri e Ninfe”, 1913, acquaforte, 640 x 933 mm, Museo delle Raccolte Frugone, Genova, courtesy BPER LaGalleria Corporate Collection
Then one arrives before the cover image of the exhibition. “Centaur Killing a Deer “(1918) is an oil on hardboard that instills real vibration as one gazes at it in its verticality. The painting is anguishing and synthesizes, in the combination of violent reds and tragic oranges, the actual fear that the centaur mythologically transmits. The style is less academic than surrounding works, and the inspiration from a D’Annunzian laudation (many works in the exhibition recall themes poetically addressed by D’Annunzio) does not reduce the sense of disquiet and feral violence of the work. It is no coincidence that it is one of the most representative works of the exhibition’s essence: it is, in fact, accompanied, on the side, by its printed reproduction dedicated to the tactile exploration for the blind. The proximity, only theoretical, of the centaur to the satyr (and even less to the nymphs) are the subject of an etching by Franz von Stuck from 1913, in which satyrs are depicted with equal violence and in the act of abducting nymphs (“Satyrs and Nymphs”, 1913). The homage to other artists continues with several etchings and aquatints by Max Klinger. The themes addressed are the feral ones of the centaur alongside more landscape subjects, as in the case of reproductions and illustrations (including those by Gustave Doré) that recall some important references in the treatment of the centaur, among which some by Gabriele d’Annunzio and Dante Alighieri. And also inspired by the intellectual from Pescara are some remarkable grisaille paintings on glass by Giuseppe Cellini that recall “The Death of the Deer” (circa 1907).
“The Divine Comedy” illustrated by Gustave Doré, Edoardo Sonzogno Editore, 1887, printed book, 33.7 x 25 cm, Studio d’Arte La Darsena, Modena, courtesy BPER LaGalleria Corporate Collection
Fauns, amazons, centaurs in love, nymphs and fighting centaurs are the themes of some small works displayed on the following wall. Mario De Maria, Achille Boschi, Ettore Tito, Felice Tosalli, Giuseppe Graziosi, Alexander Rothaug, Giovanni Battista Crema, Ettore Tinto and Ferruccio Pasqui are the artists who, working with different expressiveness and techniques, confirm how, especially in the first part of the 20th century, the theme was in the hearts of artists, always declined with the same watchwords: struggle, bestiality, female abduction. Starting from the Futurist period, the motorcycle, along with the automobile, established itself in society, and with it, obviously, the representation of two wheels contaminated by the figure of the centaur: another wall of the exhibition is dedicated to advertising works, posters and graphics, which become a direct, powerful and effective communication channel thanks to Corrado Mancioli, Plinio Codognato and Gian Carlo Rossetti. All artistic children of Futurism: it had already been Achille Funi who represented Tommaso Marinetti as a centaur on two wheels associated with speed and lust (“Marinetti: Lust and Speed”, 1914-21).
Achille Funi, “Marinetti. Lust, Speed”, circa 1914-1921, oil and collage on plywood, 43.5 x 32.7 cm, Studio D’arte Nicoletta Colombo, Milan, courtesy BPER LaGalleria Corporate Collection; Wainer Vaccari, “I am Chiron… I am back”, 2025, oil on canvas, 100 x 80 cm, courtesy the artist
In 1966, the film “The Wild Angels” by Roger Corman was released in cinemas, and on the poster, a pack of motorized centaurs prominently displays itself, conveying aggression and fear. A decade earlier, Alberto Savinio had represented a benevolent and wise variant of the centaur (“Chiron”, 1950): this tempera on canvas is accompanied by its reproduction also dedicated in this case to the tactile accessibility for the blind. This artistic journey into the myth of the centaur closes with the most recent work on the theme, also depicting Chiron, the oil on canvas by Modenese artist Wainer Vaccari (“I Am Chiron… I Have Returned”, 2025). The work, a specific creative contribution for the exhibition, depicts the immortal with a torch that synthesizes his role as a guide for humanity (represented by a human figure in clear difficulty in the midst of a vortex). The exhibition is accompanied by the eponymous catalog published by LaGalleria Bper Corporate Collection, which includes a wide range of texts dedicated to the figure of the centaur, well beyond the introduction and illustration of the exhibition. Educational workshops and guided tours for schools are also planned, as well as specific activities for blind and visually impaired visitors.
Info:
FERINE CREATURES: Centaurs, Fauns, Myths in the Work of Jules van Biesbroeck and in the Modern Imagination
18/04/2025 – 29/06/2025
LaGalleria BPER Banca
Via Scudari, 9 – Modena
https://www.lagalleriabper.it/
Cover image: Jules van Biesbroeck, “Fight of two centaurs, end of an old dispute”, 1921, pastel and watercolour on cardboard, 29.5 x 42.6 cm, BPER Banca Ferrara Collection, courtesy BPER LaGalleria Corporate Collection
I am Giovanni Crotti, born in 1968, and I feel obliged to thank writing because it drives my life. I cultivate within me multitudes that lead me to investigate, know, and deepen every cultural and creative expression, and then write about it, always trying to be clear and documented in the contents.
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