Okay I am going to be “opinionated” today – but I really think they need to reconsider these names?

They call the second floor in the Pitti Palace a Gallery of Modern Art, which is laughable because the nearest it gets to Modern times is the early 20th Century , whilst tourists protest not a little because quite naturally they expect something a little nearer to current activity.

On the other hand the recently opened NoveCento is more or less the real deal – It is a magnificent space, beautifully designed with all the style you would expect in Italy and the artworks inside go as far into the 20th Century as 1988.

The problem to me seems to be that there has been little publicity in celebration of this new museum – I have walked past this remnant of this 13th Century pilgrim refuge hundreds of times this year wondering why there was no notice about the latest exhibition at the Photography Museum that I have enjoyed so often – especially last year’s Capa in Italy.

In fact the photography museum has closed, and the beautiful fifteenth century façade of the basilica on the other side of the Piazza Santa Maria Novella now hosts a sign for Museo Nove Cento under its Michelozzo designed portico, but so far as I can see  without any explanation as to the type of museum or even where the entrance is?

The problem with the name is that whilst Italians will understand that NoveCento is, in fact,  the Italian equivalent of what the majority of the tourists would refer to as the Twentieth Century – our ignorance granted and apologised for – I do feel that as these are the people with money in their pockets looking out for something new to see in Florence it would be worth adding a postscript in English that this would be the place to come to see works that are less than 100 years old.

Also in view of the Picasso exhibition in Florence this season it was interesting to see works inspired by or reminiscent of his work.

Included amongst the Art on display  are five works by female Artists working in Italy chosen from the 100 who donated works to the City at the time of the 1966 flood –

The sculpture shown below is by Antonietta Raphael Mafai.   This work was one of seven works by women artists that have already been restored in 2014 through the Advancing Women Artists AWA Foundation. The restoration has been done in preparation for an Exhibition to be held in the NoveCento Museum in 2016 in memory of all the works contributed to Florence by women artists worldwide after the Arno flooded Florence in 1966 and many irreplaceable works of art were lost.

The Foundation intends to ensure that 28 of these works are ready for display at this exhibition – and for transport worldwide afterwards – as originally promised by Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti when he asked the world to donate art to Florence to replace some of those damaged in the flood.

All these works by twentieth century women artists are celebrated in the latest book by Jane Fortune and Linda Falcone – When the World Answered. Let’s hope they win another Emmy for this documentary film too!

Created in 1964 the scupture below  is called Maternity -also by Antonietta Raphael Mafa,who as a Jew whose family had fled from Lithuania to escape anti-Semitism, together with her husband Mario Mafal , also an artist, and Scipione were inspired by anti-fascist sentiments and created a movement that is referred to as “La Scuola di Via Cavour”.

After the war Raphael continued to explore the nature of her Judaism as well as the more generic nature of motherhood.

The NoveCento offers a selection of about 300 works distributed in 15 exhibition areas, as well as a study room, a toilet, drawings and prints, and a hall for lectures and screenings.

We were taken across the Museum reviewing the Art as it travels backwards in time from the nineties to the early twentieth century. Each room contains chronological themes and well as various multi-media workstations, films and interactive IPads – we didn’t have the chance to try out all these toys but we all expressed an intention to return and do so!

Although people come to Florence chiefly to see the wonder of “old” art most visitors also ask “Where is the new art?- Who are the new Renaissance men? – Where are the up and coming Michelangelos!” – The NoveCento museum doesn’t give a complete answer to this yet but perhaps when they start having exhibitions of new work from all the Art Schools in the City a new Renaissance might develop?