Botanical Watercolors by Marilena Pistoia

Past Exhibitions

6 November 1989 – 23 February 1990

This exhibition featured selected artworks done by Marilena Pistoia (1933–2017) of Modena, Italy, for three publications: F. Bianchini and F. Corbetta, I Fruitti della Terra (The complete book of fruits and vegetables) and Le Piante della Salute (Health plants of the world: Atlas of medicinal plants) and Laura Peroni, Il Linguaggio dei Fiori (The language of flowers), all published in Italy by Arnoldo Mondadori between 1973 and 1984 and subsequently in America by Crown and by Newsweek. The artist donated all the original paintings for these books to the Institute.

Previously the Institute had exhibited several of Pistoia's artworks. Five of her watercolors of grasses (for I Fruitti della Terra) were included in Fields of Grass, a Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service show. Pistoia received diplomas from the Artistic High School, Monza, in 1951; Academy of Fine Arts, Milan, in 1955; and the Anatomical Design School, Bologna, in 1957. At the time of this exhibition she was teaching etching in Modena.

<p>Melon (Cucumis melo): netted melon, cantaloupe, winter melons [<em>Cucumis</em> Linnaeus, Cucurbitaceae], watercolor on paper by Marilena Pistoia (1933–2017), 31.5 × 23 cm, for Francesco Bianchini and Francesco Corbetta, <em>I Frutti della Terra</em> (Verona, Arnoldo Mondadori, 1973, p. 141), HI Art accession no. 6771.58, reproduced by permission of Mondadori Electa, S.p.A., Milan.</p>

Melon (Cucumis melo): netted melon, cantaloupe, winter melons [Cucumis Linnaeus, Cucurbitaceae], watercolor on paper by Marilena Pistoia (1933–2017), 31.5 × 23 cm, for Francesco Bianchini and Francesco Corbetta, I Frutti della Terra (Verona, Arnoldo Mondadori, 1973, p. 141), HI Art accession no. 6771.58, reproduced by permission of Mondadori Electa, S.p.A., Milan.