The Italian American Museum Cordially invites you to attend the opening reception for en Plein Air Imagery of Central Park. Solo exhibition by Annamarie Trombetta - Friday, February 20, 2015 - 6:30 P.M. Refreshments will be served R.S.V.P. 212.965.9000 [email protected]

Celebrating the influence of the Italian Macchiaioli (Risorgimento) Artists and the American Hudson River School Painters on Ms. Trombetta's work, the show will feature works from her "en Plein Air" series.

Artist's Statement:

The exhibition "en Plein Air Imagery of Central Park" encompasses a variety of works which vary in size, medium and compositional format. On view are works of art executed in oils, pastels, watercolors, etchings and drawing. My artistic vision is drawn equally from the world of perception, lived experiences and the creative imagination. The fusion of modern designs with a traditional execution is most evident in a stylistic depiction on traditional and shaped canvases. What I hope is evident is the realization that my work has a deep reverence and spiritual commitment to nature as it asserts a serious element of a constructive, naturalistic yet traditional undertone.

The inspiration for the idea of Central Park began while I was employed and a student at the National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts. While at the Academy I learned about the first coherent American school of artists named the Hudson River School painters. These painters conveyed the idea of the importance of "Nature" to poet, writer, William Cullen Bryant. In turn, Bryant then wrote articles in the New York Evening Post which was the equivalent of The New York Times of that day. It is precisely this connection between the visual and the written arts that birthed the idea of Public Parks into existence in this country. Central Park was the first urban park in any American city at that time, personally, it is this fact that I found worthy of noting and is one of the many reasons why I chose to concentrate on this subject.

While working at the National Academy Museum in the early 1990's there was an exhibition of Italian paintings from the collection of Gaetano Marzotto. The show featured the works of the Macchiaioli who painted "en Plein Air" and preceded the Impressionist by a decade. This exhibition afforded me the opportunity to better comprehend Italy's political history "The Risorigmento" (resurgence) and the artist's involvement which played a vital role in the country's unification and cultural development. The root word "macchia" means in Italian "spot" "patch" "smear" or "smudge and best describes the sketch or block like use of bold colors. As a result of my findings I painted "Un Momento di Garibaldi-Meucci Museo" in 2001 located in Staten Island, New York for two reasons; Garibaldi was a quintessential figure in the unification of Italy and also fought in the American Civil War. According to Italian historian Petacco, "Garibaldi was ready to accept Lincoln's 1862 offer but on one condition: that the war's objective be declared as the abolition of slavery".

Un Momento painting is a welcome addition to the Central Park Imagery series as it was painted in the Macchiaioli tradition; "en Plein Air" and also worked on from my imagination. Lastly, I must credit my propensity to work in geometric shapes, from my years of study at The New York Academy of Figurative Art. The Croquet Game-Male/Female/ Active/Passive is the culmination of my revered time at this school.

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