From 19 December 2021 to 25 April 2022 , the Civic Museum of Modena , in the renovated spaces of the San Paolo Complex, is organizing an exhibition celebrating Umberto Tirelli (Modena, 1871 - Bologna 1954), one of the masters of early twentieth century caricature, at 150 years from birth.

The exhibition, curated by Stefano Bulgarelli and Cristina Stefani, offers 230 works, including drawings, sculptures, paintings, masks and puppets, able to deepen the centrality of a figure who made the caricature the only and essential means of expression, reaching to establish itself at national and European level.

Through his multifaceted production, Tirelli was able to offer an acute and ironic look at the bourgeoisie and the local and national establishment in the complex of their social, political and cultural aspects, in a historical span between the Belle Époque and the Grande War, fascism and the Second World War, up to the international tensions that marked the beginning of the Cold War and the dawn of the first economic boom.

Intertwining visual and performing arts, Tirelli has interpreted the greatest "theater of life" in its heterogeneity, offering a critical reading of his time and its protagonists, of the most hidden facets of the human soul and of the forms of power even in their aspects more deteriorate.

The exhibition itinerary, in the setting designed by the Faculty of Architecture of Bologna with the coordination of Matteo Agnoletto, in collaboration with Leo Piraccini and Matteo Giagnorio, starts from the artist's studio with the furnishings designed by himself, the books, the magazines , the objects and tools that, in its physical and mental space, narrate Tirelli's working method and exuberant personality.