Collateral exhibition 24th Edition
In partnership with: Gianni Marangoni
Let’s play: how we played. Games and toys from the private collection of Gianni Marangoni
The 25th edition’s second fringe exhibition sends the visitor to a decades-distant dimension, composed of the memories and sensations triggered by objects beloved of children, and more besides: the ancient and timeless magic of toys. An array of artefacts awaits, from dolls, baby clothes and sewing machines – this is what “playing at home” meant for Marangoni, according to his family’s tradition (in 1935, his father Giulio founded the Istituto Marangoni, a major name in Italian fashion) – to improbable trains, ships, cars and aeroplanes, much beloved and sought-after by collectors.
Highlights include the “Marinaretti” sailor boys, painted by Attilio Mussino, famous for his illustrations for Carlo Collodi’s “Adventures of Pinocchio”, and the papier-mâché marionettes, complete with original clothing, dating back to the 1920s. There is also an American Snoopy from the 1930s and, from the same period, a collection of discs containing images in cardboard that could be cut out to create real pieces of set scenery.
