Elisabetta Barracchia,
En plein (h)air: Elegance and Courage in
Drawing
An unique opportunity for
Benvenuto to attend a private
viewing of this fascinating
exhibition—by a woman and
about women—kindly hosted by
a prominent notary firm at their
impressive premises located inside a
XIX century Milanese ‘palazzo’.
The exhibition is a visual and
narrative journey devoted to the
female image; it is built around
female figures playfully dubbed
the “Scapigliate” (literally, ‘with
unkempt hair’), a term used to
designate an Italian late XIX
century, non-conformist artistic
and literary movement.
Elisabetta’s powerful females are
drawn with sharp, poetic strokes and
celebrated as symbols of elegance,
irreverence and courage—a small
army of extraordinary ladies,
determined in their progress, using
their long hair as an elaborate
armour—both as defence against
the dangers of this world, and as a
weapon of rebellion.
The viewer is captured by the
strength and adaptability of these
women: slight and graceful, they
swim amongst sharks and face
fearsome raptor birds; on their heads,
with surprising ease, they carry
imposing architectural structures—
possibly representing the weight of
societal demands.
Their most striking feature, however,
is the way they embody the strength
that resides in grace: the ability to
transform reality and themselves
with no obvious display, bending the
rules of the world in order to adapt
and react, reinventing themselves
without ever being vanquished.
Elisabetta’s “Scapigliate” are not
simply drawings of women: they
are archetypes, a visual hymn to
the kind of female beauty which
is capable of resilience, as well
as to the strength to be found in
fragility.
THE ARTIST – Elisabetta Barracchia,
a natural creative, started out as an
art director with Annamaria Testa
and later continued her journey with
Franca Sozzani as Director of Vogue
Jewellery and Vogue Accessory. She is
now in charge of the many iterations
of Flo Magazine: Beauty, Details and
Bridal. Since a very young age, she has
been drawing portraits of women in
evolution; this is her very first public
exhibition.
Time: 6:30pm
Venue: RLCD Notai, via Mario
Pagano 65 (MM Pagano)
Cost: free
Sign up: To reserve your place,
please sign up with Gisella
Garbagnati at specialactivities@
benvenutoclubofmilan.it