An influential direction: Supino and the Davia Bargellini Museum

Abstract

Igino Benvenuto Supino held the position of director of the Museo d'Arte Industriale of Bologna for almost 10 years, from 1929, after the death of the former director Francesco Malaguzzi Valeri. He found himself managing a unique museum, already provided with a versatile and comprehensive small format catalogue which also came with an unusually large number of photos for that period. First of all, Supino commissioned the drafting of a new inventory of "objects, furniture and paintings" in order to verify the exact extent and provenance of the collection. During his management he made few but significant new acquisitions. He included only works valuable from an artistic point of view, avoiding those merely considered as fine local craftsmanship. He was forced to leave the position at the end of 1938, when he was formally dismissed after the promulgation of the Italian Racial Laws.