Brera Academy
The Academy of Fine Arts of Brera, (Italian: Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera) also known as Brera Academy (Italian: Accademia di Brera) is a public academic institution located in the city center of Milan - Italy, in via Brera 28. It was founded in 1776 by HIM Maria Theresa of Austria.
The main objective is to teach and research within the creative art, (painting, sculpting, graphics, photo, video etc.) and cultural historical disciplines.
Under the current italian regulations (MIUR Ministry of Education, University and Research), the Brera Academy is included in the university program in the field of the Artistic and Musical Training issuing academic diplomas level of 1° (equivalent to degree) and academic diplomas level of 2° (equivalent to graduated teacher).
In Italy is the training institution with the highest rate of internationalization (greater than 24%), has about 3,500 students including over 850 foreigners, mostly already graduated in the origin countries.
In 2005 the teaching of the academy has been classified by UNESCO as "A5" the same as Bocconi University. It is also regarded as one of the world's leading academic institutions.
The current Director of the Academy (2007) is Professor Fernando De Filippi.
History
- 1572: ownership Palazzo Brera, built on the ruins of a convent of the Umiliati went to Jesuits.
- The name "Brera" derives from the German term "braida" which indicates a large grassy clearing, similar to the place where it is built namesake building that still houses the headquarters of the Academy.
- 1627-1628: the restructuring of the building was given to Francesco Maria Richini.
- 1772: is suppressed the Society of Jesus and the Palazzo Brera receives a new institutional framework, including the Brera Astronomical Observatory and the National Braidense Library (formerly founded by the Jesuits).
- 1774: ill be added to the Brera Botanical Garden.
- 1776: the Brera Academy is based by HIM Maria Theresa of Austria whose main purpose is "Depriving the teaching of Fine Arts to craftsmen and private artists , subject to public supervision and public opinion". The project was entrusted to architect Giuseppe Piermarini it receives, the same year the first chair of Architecture. Also in 1776 was founded, educational purposes, the Brera Art Gallery (Italian: Pinacoteca di Brera): a collection of exemplary works for the training of students, you can copy the real paintings and plaster casts.
- The Brera Art Gallery museum of international standing, collects the most important collection in Milan today. It houses, among others, masterpieces from Bellini, Boccioni, Botticelli, Caravaggio, Hayez, Leonardo da Vinci, Mantegna, Modigliani, Picasso, Piero della Francesca, Raphael, Rembrandt, Rubens, Tiepolo, Tintoretto, Titian and Veronese.
- 1797: Napoleon Bonaparte transforms The Brera Art Gallery is a veritable museum where exhibit paintings from the territories conquered by French armed and make up the Lombard Institute of Science and Letters.
- 1803: format is the Academic Council, made up of 30 members, which expands and defines teaching subjects: Architecture, Painting, Sculpture, Ornato, Engraving, Perspective, Anatomy and Artistic elements Figure. The Ornato Commission begins to play a control over public monuments similar to that of modern Superintendent of Public Works (Italian: Sopraintendenze alle Belle Arti).
- 1805: launch of the annual exhibitions, which are the most important manifestation of contemporary art in Italy throughout the nineteenth century. The event provides an overview of the work of students of both works by artists in Italy and Europe. The awards made competition help to make known the name of Brera Academy of Fine Arts at European level.
- 1861: after the Unification of Italy, the Academy is going through a period of crisis due to the advent of photography and general refusal to copy the works of the past.
- 1863: the Archaeological Museum is posted.
- 1882: management Brera Art Gallery is made autonomous.
- 1891: exposures become three-year, while the architectural culture makes its teaching self founding the School of Architecture
- 1897-1914: Camillo Boito is president of the academy and has among its students Luca Beltrami.
- 1900: Brera Art Gallery acquires the administration of the collection of modern painting.
- 1923: with the reform of the school promoted by Giovanni Gentile, is set up at the next Art School. In the same period the School of Sculpture is held by Adolfo Wildt (followed Francesco Messina and Marino Marini), which has among its students two of the highest artistic renewal of Milan in the years to follow: Lucio Fontana and Fausto Melotti, while Achille Funi the chair will be set up to Fresco.
- 1931: the School of Architecture is moved to the Politecnico di Milano.
- 1946: in the Second World War, the Academy opens with the direction of Aldo Carpi, with Guido Ballo as a professor of Art History, in addition to the masters of sculpture Alik Cavaliere and Andrea Cascella, painting professors Mauro Reggiani, Domenico Cantatore, Pompeo Borra and Domenico Purificato.
General information
Brera Academy has risen from 4 traditional addresses to 11 triennial courses level of 1°, 19 two-year courses level of 2°, 1 advanced and 3 master. It also enabled 6 courses enabling biennial teaching in secondary schools (COBASLID), in 6 classes of competition that relate to the specific visual arts.
Brera has four 'traditional' departments:
- Decoration
- Painting
- Sculpture
- Theatre Design
and, since 1997-98, four 'experimental' ones with yearly intake limited to 20 students:
- Contemporary Sacred Art
- Restauration of Contemporary Art
- Communication and Education applied to Art
- Multimedia Communication
It is allowed to extend the course duration with one year, bringing the maximum overall course duration to five years.
Attendance of classes is compulsory. If attendance is irregular, a student's name may be cancelled from the institution registers. Serious motives justifying absence from classes should be stated officially by the 15th of March of the academic year concerned. Otherwise one runs the risk of being excluded from exams, which may occasion the loss of one year study time.
Admission of foreign citizens is regulated as follows: foreign citizens wishing to enrol as students at the Brera Academy should present their application to the Italian Consulate in their country not later than 15 March of the year in which they intend to begin their studies at Brera.
Together with their application they should submit an educational curriculum (complete with relevant diplomas), and an indication of the course of their choice. The consular authorities will verify the equivalence of study titles and will send the translated documentation to the secretariat of the Academy.
Upon completion of this procedure, the candidate will be invited to participate in the entry examinations, which consist in a test of artistic ability pertinent to the course chosen, and a test of general cultural awareness. Foreign citizens will also have to pass a written Italian language test.
It's still today heritage of Brera Academy:
- The Collection of Sculptures and Gypsum Copies
- The Historical Archive
- The Historical Fund
- The Cabinet of Drawings and Prints
- The Picture Gallery
- The Photographic Archives
- The Contemporary Art Library of the Brera Academy
Notable students and professors
in chronological order of birth
- Giuseppe Piermarini (architect)
- Jacques-Louis David (painter)
- Ennio Quirino Visconti (archaeologist and political)
- Antonio Canova (sculptor)
- Bertel Thorvaldsen (sculptor)
- Vincenzo Camuccini (painter)
- Giuseppe Bossi (painter, draftsman, poet and writer)
- Francesco Hayez (painter)
- Carlo Ferrari (set designer)
- Raffaele Casnedi (painter)
- Cherubino Cornienti (painter)
- Camillo Boito (architect and writer)
- Emilio Magistretti (painter)
- Luca Beltrami (architect, art historian and restorer)
- Giovanni Segantini (painter)
- Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo (painter)
- Adolfo Wildt (sculptor)
- Carlo Carrà (painter)
- Aldo Carpi (painter and writer)
- Antonio Sant'Elia (architect)
- Achille Funi (painter)
- Mauro Reggiani (painter)
- Pompeo Borra (painter)
- Lucio Fontana (painter, sculptor and ceramist)
- Marino Marini (sculptor)
- Fausto Melotti (sculptor)
- Gianfilippo Usellini (painter)
- Domenico Cantatore (painter and illustrator)
- Piero Fornasetti (painter, sculptor, designer and engraver)
- Guido Ballo (art historian)
- Domenico Purificato (painter)
- Giovanni Madonini (painter)
- Andrea Cascella (sculptor, painter and ceramist)
- Enrico Baj (painter and sculptor)
- Alik Cavaliere (sculptor)
- Dario Fo (playwright, director, set designer, actor and Nobel Prize for Literature 1997)
- Roberto Sanesi (art historian, poet and essayist)
- Piero Manzoni (painter and sculptor)
- Vincenzo Ferrari (painter)
- Miltos Manetas (painter, multimedia artist)
- Vanessa Beecroft (painter, photographer and performer)
References
- Brera Academy Official Website
- MIUR Ministry of Education, University and Research - Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca - Alta Formazione Artistica e Musicale (in Italian)
- Brera, disfigured Canova's statue. by Corriere della Sera of October 10, 2006 (in Italian)
Address
- Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera - Via Brera 28 20121 Milano Italia
See also
External links
Palazzo Brera Institutions (in Italian)
- Brera Art Gallery - Pinacoteca di Brera
- National Braidense Library - Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense
- Lombard Institute of Science and Letters - Istituto Lombardo Accademia di Scienze e Lettere
- Brera Astronomical Observatory and Botanical Garden - Museo Astronomico e Orto Botanico di Brera
- Friends of Brera and the Milanese museums - Amici di Brera