Venice, first main show about the Marchesa Luisa Casati

“A living artwork”, that was what “Marchesa” Luisa Casati wanted to be, and it is simply not possible to summarize in a few lines all that she was able to do by following her dreams, or perhaps escaping her nightmares. It is not enough to list all the artists and the personalities this iconic and decadent beauty, who lived between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, had met, followed, collected, loved, and influenced. Similarly, it is not enough to describe her dissonant aristocratic life, marked by her love story with the poet Gabriele d’Annunzio more than by her marriage with Camillo Stampa, father of that Camillo Stampa who in the 1970s murdered his wife, and her young lover.

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It is not enough to describe her eccentric look, characterized by red hair, white skin, and artificially swollen pupils stressed by extraordinary long eyelashes and massive black eyeshadow, indeed the perfect look for a séance session with the Futurist Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, or to impress Giovanni Boldini, a sort of Jeff Koons at that time in Paris.

In 1910 Luisa Casati rented the ruined Palazzo Leoni in Venice- the future residence of Peggy Guggenheim – to turn it into a dream place where she hosted cheetahs, snakes, parrots, white peacocks and naked servants painted in gold. But even this event is not enough to fully grasp the meaning of the mission she gave to her life, and the enormous debt – over $25 millions – she amassed in two decades of extraordinary investments meticulously focused on the creation of her own myth. And the 74^th Chorus of the San Francisco Blues, by Jack Kerouac, dedicated to Luisa is but a further hint to untagle the intricate story of her life: Marchesa Casati/ is a living doll/ Pinned on my Frisco/ Skid raw wall/ Her eyes are vast/ Her skin is shiny/ blue veins/ And wild red hair/ Shoulders sweet and tiny/ Love her/ Love her/ Sings the sea/ Bluely/ Moaning/ In the Augustus John/ the John/ background.

Perhaps the first step to become acquainted with her is to visit the first comprehensive show dedicated to the Marchesa, currently in Venice, at Palazzo Fortuny and let her guiding you through that Golden Age of European culture.

April 15, 2021