Fellini!

In commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the death of the legendary Italian director Federico Fellini, the Guggenheim presents a full retrospective of his films as well as an exhibition of rarely viewed evocative drawing that attest to the breadth of Fellini's visionary artistry.

Fellini, a master of the art of film, was also an extraordinary visual artist whose drawings were integral to his creative process. Fellini! presents his early caricatures of Hollywood film stars created for the Fulgor cinema in his boyhood home of Rimini, Italy—he exchanged his drawings for movie tickets, thus commencing what would be an inextricable relationship between his graphic and cinematic imagery. With his gift for comic sketches, Fellini found journalistic work with popular publications, which eventually led him to jobs as a scriptwriter and film director. All the while he continued to sketch out his own unique visions and interpretations of the world—factually or fantastically based. Also on view are his photographs of film extras and other individuals that he called into Rome's legendary Cinecittà film studios. These images seen in relation to his drawings and films reveal Fellini's facility for fleshing out the merest indication of character to develop dramatic personae.

Fellini's highly attuned ability to craft a densely and fantastically populated universe in motion culminated in his acclaimed films. Fellini! comprises all of the director's feature films (including several newly restored film prints), his short films, exclusive interviews and footage of the artist never before seen in the U.S., new documentaries featuring recently discovered scenes originally shot for La Dolce Vita and Ginger and Fred, and innovative and wry commercials that Fellini created in the 1980s.

Federico Fellini
Fellini!
Kuratoren: John G. Hanhardt, Maria-Christina Villaseñor, Pupi Avati, Vincenzo Mollica, Antonio Monda