[BCMA] NEWS RELEASE: Vernon's Caetani Centre Opens for Exciting Season of Tours with new Displays and Art

Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv listserv at lists.museum.bc.ca
Wed Apr 20 11:45:19 PDT 2022


Please see our latest news release (attached and pasted below) in regards
to spring tours starting at the Caetani Centre in Vernon, BC.

Please let us know if you have any questions or would like to schedule a
visit.

With appreciation for any assistance you can provide.

Sincerely,
Kristin

-- 
Kristin Froneman (she/her)
Communication and Tours Coordinator
Caetani Centre Society
3401 Pleasant Valley Road
Vernon, British Columbia V1T 4L4
Phone: (250) 275-1525
Email: programs at caetani.org

*I respectfully acknowledge that my workplace is within the ancestral,
traditional, and unceded territory of the Syilx Nation.*

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 20, 2022

Caetani Centre Opens for Exciting Season of Tours with new Displays and Art

The Caetani Centre reopens for its second year of guided and self-guided
tours April 28. Visitors will get the chance to view new displays and see
the next chapter of artwork from Sveva Caetani’s heralded Recapitulation
Series.

VERNON, BC — Vernon’s best kept secret is quickly revealing itself to be a
draw for locals and tourists alike.

After officially opening for the first time to the public last year, the
Caetani Centre welcomed visitors from near and far for a series of sold-out
guided tours held from July to December.

With interest in the Caetani story increasing, the Centre is getting ready
to reopen its 126-year-old heritage home, now a museum, for a new series of
both guided and self-guided tours starting April 28.

“There will be a lot of new things for visitors to see and experience,”
says Caetani Centre executive director Susan Brandoli. “We have an
incredible collection of Caetani family heirlooms that our volunteers have
been accessioning and getting ready for display. We will be showing more of
these one-of-a-kind artifacts, including 1920s’ haute couture designs by
the likes of Coco Chanel, Madeleine Vionnet, and Jeanne Lanvin.”

Visitors touring the museum will learn about the historical significance of
the Caetani family, whose lineage dates back to 8th Century Italy and
includes popes, scholars, artists, politicians, and aristocrats.

“We have an incredible collection of family home movies that the patriarch,
Leone Caetani, filmed before he died in 1935. The clips show the family’s
life here in the Okanagan as well as extravagant trips they took to Europe
in the 1920s,” says Kristin Froneman,

Caetani tours and communications coordinator.

Visitors will also be able to view more of Sveva Caetani’s artwork from her
Recapitulation Series in the gallery.

“We will be showing the next chapter of works that have not been viewed in
Vernon since the series was returned to us by the Alberta Foundation for
the Arts in March 2021. We are currently having custom walls built so that
we can show more of the paintings from the series at one time,” said
Brandoli.

The Caetani Cultural Centre Society has been raising funds through its Bringing
Sveva Home sponsorship campaign
<https://www.caetani.org/contact-us/donations-legacies/bringing-sveva-home-recapitulation-sponsorship-opportunities/>
to expand its gallery with the intent to eventually exhibit the entire
series of 47 paintings, several of which consist of several panels and one
spectacular work alone, Makimono of the Ninth, which measures 20 feet in
width and has been sponsored by Silver Star Mountain Resort.

The spring session of guided tours can now be booked for Thursday nights at
6 p.m., Friday afternoons at 1 p.m. and Saturdays at 10 a.m. or 1 p.m.
until June 18 at the Ticker Seller, 250-549-7469, www.ticketseller.ca. Each
tour can be booked for 10 people max. Guided tours take approximately 1.5
hours with time to look around.

Self-guided tours are also available for scheduled drop-in times, Tuesday
to Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Fridays 10 a.m. to noon, with
admission at the door.

For more information, visit the Caetani Centre at www.caetani.org or call
250-275-1525.

-30-

About the Caetani Family and Sveva Caetani's Recapitulation Painting
Series:

Duke of Sermoneta Leone Caetani, his partner Ofelia and his daughter Sveva
Caetani arrived in Vernon, British Columbia in 1921. They lived a life of
wealth, privilege, travel, and luxury throughout the Roaring Twenties until
the economic crash of 1929 decimated their fortunes.

Following the death of Leone in 1935, Ofelia and Sveva went into
self-imposed exile. During this time, mother and daughter rarely left the
house, and Sveva was not allowed to pursue her love of art.

It was not until her mother's death in 1960 that Sveva, now in her early
40s, started painting again. Her economic circumstances dictated that she
find work for the first time in her life. She took on teaching positions at
St. James Elementary and Charles Bloom Secondary.
Around this time, Sveva began work on her Recapitulation series, featuring
47 large-scale vibrant watercolour paintings, documenting her story and
journey through life.

In the mid-1980s, due to several mitigating circumstances, Sveva donated
the complete Recapitulation series to the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
(AFA). The works left the province of British Columbia for 35 years. The
AFA provided access to the collection through exhibition loans and an
online database.

Now, after more than 30 years since the first painting travelled to
Edmonton, Sveva's Recapitulation has returned home to Vernon permanently
and is now part of an extensive collection held by the Caetani Cultural
Centre Society and on display at Sveva's former home in Vernon, BC.

For more information, please contact:

Kristin Froneman, Tours and Communications Coordinator, 250-275-1525
programs at caetani.org

For a selection of photos, please see:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ECDzLi4JSgmGkcNiNdBc4E2dXElz61Ph?usp=sharing

Captions:


   1.

   Tour attendees check out the books in Leone Caetani’s office at the
   Caetani Centre. (Maria Besso photo)
   2.

   Tours coordinator Kristin Froneman guides visitors through the Caetani
   house. (Maria Besso photo)
   3.

   Tours coordinator Kristin Froneman shows some of the artwork from Sveva
   Caetani’s Recapitulation series in the Caetani Centre gallery. (Maria Besso
   photo)
   4.

   Leone Caetani in traditional costume worn by members of the Accademia
   dei Lincei, Rome. (Courtesy of Caetani Centre)
   5.

   A young Sveva Caetani in her dance costume, circa 1929. (photo courtesy
   of Caetani Centre)
   6.

   Part of the Chanel collection at the Caetani Centre. (Courtesy of
   Caetani Centre)
   7.

   Front of Caetani Centre on Pleasant Valley Road, Vernon, BC. (Courtesy
   of Caetani Centre)
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