Monday, April 12, 2010

MILAN (Italy) for FINE ART goods..good place???

This city is known for its' huge shopping possibilities, the large variety of clothes, shoes etc.. But what about when it comes to Art materials in Milan ?? Italy is the country of art otherwise, so I naturally think there are many more fine art materials shops in Italy than in many other countries.. Am I correct ?? And of course I am talking of Milan mostly.





So the questions..





Is Milan good for coming to collect ones art materials ?





Is Milan's art material stores relatively cheap compared to other countries ? Do you know any examples ?





What are the fine art store that you would recommend ??





And finally.. are there any other cities in Italy that would be extremely well suited for art materials shopping ??





Thank you sooooooooo much in advance !!!!!

MILAN (Italy) for FINE ART goods..good place???
First of all, remember that Italy is "the country of art" as far as art history, not necessarily the contemporary art scene, is concerned. The time of Michelangelo and Raphael has long passed. There are plenty of Sunday painters (and arts-and-crafters), but today's "big" art scene is still mostly in the U.S. (like New York). The same goes for art schools.





In any case, probably any Italian city has good art supply stores, including here in Rome. Unfortunately things aren't cheap at all. And there aren't any discount or wholesale places that are convenient, for example, for art students or struggling artists. I sometimes even consider the possibility of ordering stuff from the States (also because of the euro/dollar exchange rate -- favorable for us over here). In any case, why would you want to come here to buy imported Liquitex or Windsor Newton products? The biggest Italian brand of art supplies is Maimeri. For an idea of prices, a small (250 ml - roughly 8 oz) jar of Maimeri acrylic gloss medium at my neighborhood art supply store has arrived at 8.30 euro (I just checked on it this evening), which is roughly 12 US dollars! And you can totally forget larger (1 quart or 1 gallon) size containers of paints and medium -- they don't even exist here.





So I certainly wouldn't come to Italy specifically to buy art supplies, but if you happen to be here, you can check in the local phone book yellow pages for art supply stores. Here in Rome, the category to look under is: "Disegno, grafica e belle arti - Articoli". The main "big name" I remember in the center of Rome is Vertecchi -- but (also because it is in the very chic center, not far from the Spanish Steps) it is not at all cheap. There also used to be another famous store on Via del Babuino (between Piazza del Popolo and the Spanish Steps, near the famous "artists' street", Via Margutta), where you could even buy pure pigments and made-to-order stretched canvases (I had them restretch a large canvas of mine that I had brought over from the U.S. rolled up); it was called "L'Artistica", but it seems to have closed down a few years back (another sign of waning artistic years?).





BTW, in most cases, Milan as a city is more expensive than others in Italy. Florence is also very expensive.
Reply:Tuscany and Venice..is the best places to go for ART...as far as "cheap"





Italy is everything but cheap....

permanent teeth

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