Florence, Palazzo Strozzi22 SePtember 2012–27 January 2013

Si sulis, viverra? Vali, Catus orentiliena, sa consules ne publis ia ati sendeps, Cateriam inprehenatis caellem hos intia dis tuam tam ut face nestrac igna, maxim hoc tusquidemus, imo et Catquam est? P. Us senducitum, quam me deessimum aur. Si ta ex nest vivehebatere nertea re, quam ina nonsus, nondam manum factod diussus fectum seniqua mentem orum supplic aelartere dercesis adhusciis er inclus; nonsisuloc remod auror hos C. Vivatudes erit nos, ne optis Multoraecret Catque hebemus abem optia quam ut veremura nonsuntem nimmove, dit ocupios, C. Urbite alissimpost L. Serri-timmo tebatio rtimus, nonc tes virisqu amquem vatio uteatus. Mulegernium publiss iliurev iviribe ssincus volus etinatqua dertuam inprist? Econsulii pribefa ceruntimo consus convemquit Cupior quid atumeri butem.Ignare is perum publin vituus? int.Solin tus essum aucto adhuit, quondum dium pote con-sust ionsultuus fuit di seremurnu cone con se nonditam mo idem itua cont? Tatius, omnihillerei is, octandiis. Sermius maximili, moena, norum nonsil hictemuspio, sente vius; nostercerfex seropop ublicae quoniquem, notisquid dii probsenatus se in tam publius, se con tri coerisq uodicat, obus fitabus, videtor tidetima, factorte, nos ficaed caturemque inati iae intem is imust cupio te hilicaet, orum niquons ignaribuntis sa num deris cuperfi caudenihilis Catiusa vene iusa

Si SuliS, viverra?

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Special labelS for familieS and children Throughout the exhibition there are special labels that invite families to see Italy through the eyes of those who grew up in the 1930s.

art monopoly You will see families using the special ‘suitcase’, full of activities for all ages. Ask to borrow one at the Info Point on the first floor and ‘play’ the exhibition with the roll of a die. You can even do your own radio interview!

the art cardS Explore a selection of works in the exhibition with these collectable cards which suggest activities for here and home.

the drawing kit Sketch your way through the exhibition for a unique vision of the art and objects. Ask to borrow a drawing kit—for free—at the Info Point on the first floor.

the book mark Explore links between the art and literature of the time! Look for the special symbol and find the corresponding book in the Reading Room.

look out for the following featureS in the eXhibition!

the reading room The Reading Room invites visitors to take a break to relax and think about their experience. Here you will find a wide selection of works from the period, including comics, first intro-duced to Italy in the 1930s. Special attention is given to Bruno Munari and Gianni Rodari—both active before and after the Second World War.

the radio Studio Here visitors can listen to radio broadcasts of the period, or record their own interview in a real recording booth. Selected interviews will be used to create a broadcast on Radio Palazzo Strozzi.

“aSk me” Staff with special “Ask me” buttons can help you understand more about the exhibition in your own language—ask them if there is something you want to know.

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The work of the leading artists of the 1930s was shown in the cities that set the standard in Italy: the Milan group, with the dominant figures of Sironi, Martini and Carrà; Florence, to which Morandi from Bologna can also be linked; Rome, split between classicism and realism; Casorati’s sophisticated Turin, with its interest in developments in France; and the border city of Trieste, open to the influence of central Europe. Many of the works on display were shown in exhibitions of the era. The art system organised by the Fascist state gave pride of place to the Venice Biennale, an international event that also provided a showcase for developments in Europe, while the best Italian work was shown at the Rome Quadriennale, one of the main centres of the Mostre Sindacali linked to the artistic output of the regions and provinces. The Milan Triennale, on the other hand, was devoted to architecture and the applied arts.

centreS and SchoolS

Italy in the 1930s, when Fascism held sway, was the scene of an extremely vigorous artistic battle in which every style from Classicism to Futurism, from Expressionism to abstract art and from monumental art to decorative painting was involved. The situation was further complicated by the arrival of design and mass communication—posters, radio and the cinema.The exhibition invites you to explore the decade without prejudice, and bases its reconstruction on as objective a set of historical facts and figures as possible. Using the “lens” of the 1930s to understand events and developments, we have given pride of place to works of art which were seen and debated in the press, at international, national and trade union exhibitions and in leading private galleries, which all had a real impact on the visual culture and artistic debate of the day.The retrospective opens with Italy’s main artistic centres where the experimental work of “young artists” reveals the emergence of new styles and a new artistic vocabulary alongside the work of established “masters”. The rest of the exhibition explores issues including artists’ journeys and the impact of Paris and Berlin; monumental and public art; and the anti-modernist polemic sparked by reactionary traditionalism. The exhibition also explores 1930s design, where scenarios for the future are shaped by the theory and practice of the mass production of images and objects. The exhibition ends with Florence, shortly before the country enters the war in Europe alongside Germany.

The Curators

italy’S road to modernity

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1.03

arturo martini (treviso 1889–milan 1947) Woman in the Sun 1930 moulded terracottaPrivate collection

The First Quadriennale in 1931, at which seven sculptures were exhibited in a room devoted solelyto his work, provided Martini with his first major nationwide success. He produced Woman in the Sun in his studio at the Ilva Refrattari works in Vado Ligure, where he was able to model and fire large terracotta sculptures in the studio’s kiln. Versions of this work exist in terracotta, stone, plaster and bronze. The one on display here is from the Florentine collection of Alessandro Contini Bonacossi.

1.04

achille funi (virgilio Socrate funi; ferrara 1890–appiano gentile 1972) Melancholy 1930 oil on canvasMilan, Museo del Novecento

Subscribing from the outset to Margherita Sarfatti’s “Novecento” project, after 1926 the artist beganto base his figures on Renaissance masters. He achieved his effects through a modulation of his palette, merging a search for monumentality with rapid brushwork and a new, softer use of colour.

1.01

mario Sironi (Sassari 1885-milano 1961)The Family 1932 (?)oil on canvasFAI - Fondo Ambiente Italiano

This painting is one of Sironi’s largest canvases. In the late 1920s and early 1930s the artist focused on the themes of work and the family, setting his figures in a timeless rocky landscape, rediscovering a solidity of form and using a glossy palette in a way that echoes the painting of the 14th and 15th centuries.

1.02

adolfo wildt (milan 1868–1931)Arturo Ferrarin 1929 marble with gildingPrivate collection

This portrait of Arturo Ferrarin—at the height of his popularity after completing a flight from Italy to Brasil—is taken from a wax cast of the airman’s face. Wildt, whose Mussolini had become an icon of the Fascist regime, transforms Ferrarin into an almost sacred figure whose funereal aspect perfectly reflects the Fascist iconography of the hero. The abstract gold ground was to prove crucial for several of his pupils, including Fontana and Melotti.

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1.07

tullio garbari (pergine valsugana 1892–paris 1931) The Triumph of St. Thomas 1931 oil on canvasRovereto, MART - Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Provincia Autonoma di Trento

The Triumph pays tribute to philosopher Jacques Maritain’s interest in Thomas Aquinas. Garbari died in Paris, where he had travelled in the hope of meeting Maritain. The saint’s vocation, philosophical musings, ecstasy and apotheosis merge in a crowded composition. Starting at the bottom, we see both classical philosophers and men of the Catholic church, with Saint Thomas surrounded by the Evangelists, and the Trinity with Mary.

1.08

franceSco de rocchi (Saronno 1902–milan 1978) Concert Figure 1931 oil on panelMilan, private collection

Concert Figure is the first work in which De Rocchi addresses the theme of the angel musician as a metaphor for cosmic order and harmony. It was later to become one of his most frequent religious subjects. Memories of the 14th-century Siennese masters merge with the echo of Gaudenzio Ferrari’s angelic choir in the sanctuary of the Beata Vergine dei Miracoli in the artist’s hometown of Saronno.

1.05

carlo carrà (Quargnento 1881–milan 1966)Fishermen 1935 oil on canvasMilan, Museo del Novecento

This painting was begun in the Versilia area in 1929 and completed in Milan in 1935. The light, almost rarefied range of colours reveals Carrà’s experience in the field of fresco painting for the Fifth Milan Triennale in 1933. Two fishermen stand out against a typical Carrà seascape, with rippling waves and a boat with an old-fashioned sail. The picture is noteworthy for its striking plasticity and for the studied solidity of its setting.

1.06

gigiotti Zanini (luigi Zanini; vigo di fassa 1893–gargnano sul garda 1962) Still life 1932 oil on panelMilan, Museo del Novecento

Zanini joined Margherita Sarfatti’s circle in the early 1930s, showing his work in the “Novecento” group’s exhibitions. He frequently painted still lifes set in front of a window giving onto a Landscape. In this space, with its careful rendering of perspective, the architect’s and painter’s tools are set alongside musical instruments.

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achille lega (brisighella 1899–florence 1934) Old City Walls 1932 oil on canvasFlorence, Galleria d’arte moderna di Palazzo Pitti

Having subscribed to Futurism in his youth, Lega went on to draw close to the Novecento movement. His formal approach comes from his study of Soffici and Carrà, yet his work has a highly personal connotation. The painting belongs to the final phase of his artistic career during which he focused on the more popular, everyday aspects of the Tuscan landscape.

1.12

lorenZo viani (viareggio 1882–ostia 1936) Georgica 1929 oil on panelVenice, Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna di Ca’ Pesaro

From the start of his career, Viani merged Expressionist techniques with social themes and echoes of Tuscan 13th- and 14th-century painting, producing a bare, rough style perfectly suited to his portrayal of the world of down-and-outs. The docks at Viareggio became a place of legend, the stage on which he moves the figures—women, fishermen, pairs of oxen—that recur in his pictures.

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angelo del bon (milan 1898–desio 1952) The Fencer 1934 oil on canvasSesto San Giovanni, private collection

Del Bon joined the Lombard movement known as “Chiarismo”, characterised by a search for loosebrushwork and a light, transparent palette. The Fencer is not shown in action at the height of a match but seated on a rush-bottomed chair—a very different approach from both the vibrant dynamism of Futurist athletes and the grand monumentality of the Novecentisti.

1.10

arturo toSi (busto arsizio 1871–milan 1956) Schilpario. The Old Kiln1932 oil on canvasTosi Legacy

Schilpario is part of a series of paintings depicting the foothills of the Alps in Bergamo, an area of which Tosi was very fond. He observed nature and studied his subject matter in the open, but then returned to his workshop to define structure and colour and to build perspective. The end product,filtered and reconsidered, combines a sophisticated palette with an exemplary formal composition.

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1.15

giorgio morandi (bologna 1890–1964)Still life c. 1929oil on canvasPrivate collection

The items, aligned in horizontal sequence, have the feel of players on a stage. The low, gloomy colour range is broken only by the lively note introduced by a vase with a blue neck. The enviable reputation which Morandi enjoyed in official and intellectual circles earned him the Chair of Engraving at the Bologna Academy in 1930 on grounds of “distinguished renown”.

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felice carena (cumiana 1879–venice 1966) Summer (The Hammock) 1933 oil on canvasTurin, GAM - Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea

Having built up a considerable reputation for himself, in 1933 Carena became a member of the Accademia d’Italia, a prestigious Fascist cultural institute inaugurated four years earlier and comprising sixty life members. Carena combined a fresh look at the Impressionists and Courbet with a constant rediscovery of painterly tradition and a rich palette, a crucial element of his style.

1.13

ottone roSai (florence 1895–ivrea 1957)The Builders (Workmen)1933 oil on cardboardUdine, Galleria d’arte moderna, Astaldi Collection

In 1932, after years of hardship and his break with Soffici, Rosai left the furniture workshop he inherited from his father in Via Toscanella and moved to a former customs house outside the city. He focused on working-class neighbourhoods with their buildings and people, studying them from life or building them into a personal reinterpretation of 15th-century Tuscan art.

1.14

ardengo Soffici (rignano sull’arno 1879–forte dei marmi 1964) Woman Carrying a Plate (Peasant Woman) 1932 fresco transferred onto canvasMilan, Museo del Novecento

Soffici produced some frescoes in the early 1930s, which were later removed from the wall and transferred to canvas applied to wood. In these paintings the artist’s focus on daily life is linked to a rediscovery of the tradition of Masaccio and the Florentine Quattrocento, although he avoided the monumental effect pursued by Sironi and Carrà using the same technique.

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giSberto ceracchini (foiano della chiana 1899–petrignano del lago 1982)The Guardians1932 oil on canvas Venice, Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna di Ca’ Pesaro

Shown at the Venice Biennale in 1932, The Guardians testifies to the stage in Ceracchini’s career in which we can detect his sense of religion in the spirituality of his pastoral and country scenes and in his idyllic depiction of nature. He simplifies the volumes of his figures and objects, defining them with meticulous outlines and cold colours in scenes imbued with a rarefied atmosphere.

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enrico paulucci (genoa 1901–turin 1999) Villa Pace 1930 oil on canvasGenoa, Galleria d’Arte Moderna

The “Six of Turin”—a group that included Paulucci, Menzio, Boswell, Chessa, Galante and Levi, under Casorati’s wing—held their first exhibition in 1929, achieving official recognition at the Biennale in 1930. Villa Pace is a Mediterranean landscape influenced by Cézanne and set in a linear frame designed by Paulucci.

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antonio donghi (rome 1897–1963)Woman at the Café 1931 oil on canvasVenice, Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna di Ca’ Pesaro

Donghi, who emerged as a painter in the climate of so-called Magical Realism in Rome in the first half of the 1920s, painted static pictures in which genre scenes of a Metaphysical flavour are accompanied by meticulous analysis and a synthetic abstraction, in a marriage of realism and surreal immobility that have an almost alienating effect on the viewer.

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franceSco di cocco (rome 1900–89) Fantasy 1929 oil on canvasRome, Archivio Di Cocco Fantasy reveals the painter’s debt to the old masters, with its references to Giotto and Bellini, but also to Giorgione’s Three Philosophers in the colours used, in the position of the figures and in the way they are set in the landscape, hemmed in by a natural feature on one side and open towards the middle distance on the other.

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felice caSorati (novara 1883–turin 1963) April (Washing; Spring) 1929–30 oil on canvasMilan, Museo del Novecento

In around 1930 Casorati engaged in a new dialogue with Impressionism and Post-Impressionism that replaced the clean, classical Piero della Francesca-like lines of his earlier years. He combined a new, serene and luminous palette and a looser handling of his medium with such typical features of his art as distorted perspective, the female nude and the presence of daily household items.

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mariSa mori (florence 1900–85)Masks and Toys1935oil on cardboardZurich, private collection. Courtesy of MDP & Associati, Lugano

The painting exemplifies both the influence of Futurism—which the artist embraced in 1932 and which can be seen in her choice of colours, her rich texture and her dynamism—and the lessons of Casorati, to whom she owes her compositional rigour as well as her predilection for the mask theme. The masks also reveal her interest in the stage, cinema and set design.

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franceSco menZio (tempio pausania 1899–turin 1979) The Long-Distance Runner 1930 oil on canvasRome, GNAM - Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea

After starting his career in Casorati’s circle in Turin, Menzio moved to Paris where he discovered the work of Modigliani, the Impressionists and the Fauves. The work of the “Six of Turin” group, which was formed in 1929, sparked a debate the following year at the 17th Biennale, where the Long-Distance Runner was shown. The green vase with its wavy edge harks back to the work of Matisse, and Menzio also included it in other portraits.

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gigi cheSSa (turin 1898–1935)Figure with Hat (Girl in White; Figure no. 1)1930 oil on canvasFlorence, Galleria d’arte moderna di Palazzo Pitti

Chessa, who also worked in the applied arts and as a set designer, joined the “Six of Turin” in 1929. The following year the group showed at the Biennale, where this figure with its fashionable dress and cloche was also on display. Taking on board the lesson of the Fauves and Modigliani, the artist developed a simplified approach to the depiction of figures, modelling them through tonal variation.

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carlo SbiSà (trieste 1899–1964)The Diver (Portrait of Umberto Nordio)1931 oil on canvasTrieste, Museo Revoltella, Galleria d’arte moderna, Deposito Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia

In the early 1930s Sbisà painted portraits of friends—accompanied by the tools of their trade—to symbolise a particular profession. Umberto Nordio, a leading light in the world of architecture in Trieste, is shown here as a diver. The painter was in effect revisiting the Renaissance “portrait by a window”, a genre immensely popular with the Novecentisti.

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arturo nathan (trieste 1891–biberach an der riss 1944) Shipwrecked Statue 1930oil on canvasTrieste, Museo Revoltella, Galleria d’arte moderna

Nathan, a British Jew living in Trieste who met Giorgio de Chirico in 1925 and again in 1930, was inspired by his work to develop an original approach to such themes as beaches, horses, statues and ruins, adopting a gloomy palette and transferring his scenes to a northern European beach setting filled with a sense of dismay and neglect.

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vittorio bolaffio (gorizia 1883–trieste 1931)Port Triptych (On the Main Deck, The Hatch, The Docker)1929–31 oil on canvas Trieste, Museo Revoltella, Galleria d’arte moderna

In his later years, Bolaffio planned a cycle of pictures that he wished to hang in a local tavern extolling the virtues of human labour. In this triptych, designed as the central and upper part of the cycle and one of the few elements he actually completed, the artist, who constantly changed his mind while working on the picture, affected a style designed to imitate the consistency of fresco.

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youngSterS and “irrealiStS”

2.01

aligi SaSSu(milan 1912–pollença 2000) Castor and Pollux 1931 oil on canvasChieti, Museo Barbella, Alfredo e Teresita Paglione Collection

Castor and Pollux, the Argonauts, men playing dice, soccer players and cyclists are some of the subjects in a series of paintings known as the “red men”, Aligi Sassu’s chief and bestknown theme in the early 1930s. His predominantly anti-naturalistic colour range and “primitive” manner of painting are diametrically opposed to the style of the Novecentisti.

2.02

renato birolli (verona 1905–milan 1959)The Polo Players 1933 oil on canvasRome, GNAM - Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea

The subject, unusual for Italian art and society, may have been taken from a photograph published in L’Ambrosiano, where Birolli worked as a proofreader. The artist was attracted by topical snapshots and art reproductions, which he collected in his studio and from which he occasionally took his cue for a painting.

The cosmopolitan character of Italian art in the 1930s can be seen primarily in the work of the younger generations, who were receptive to new ideas both in Europe and in the world at large and whose careers were essentially played out between Rome and Milan—two cities, each with its own specific traits yet linked by a tight network of mutual influence and exchange, and acting as a magnet for artists from all over Italy. Milan provided a showcase for Guttuso’s Sicilian group, which exhibited its work in the Galleria del Milione and forged ties with young artists working in the city—mainly with Sassu and Birolli—and with others working in Rome, in particular with Cagli. Some of the younger artists turned their backs on the naturalistic portrayal of reality. These were the Futurists and Abstract artists, whom certain critics of the period lumped together in a group they called the “Irrealists”.

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2.05

franco gentilini (faenza 1909–rome 1981) Young Men by the Sea 1934 tempera on canvasRome, Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Roma Capitale

The painting marks the closest point of contact between Gentilini and Cagli, a member of the Rome school who looked to mythology for his inspiration. Young Men by the Sea is imbued with a style that reveals Gentilini’s study of the painting of Giotto, Paolo Uccello and Piero della Francesca. Perspective, light, geometry and a sense of space permeate the painting.

2.06

corrado cagli (ancona 1910–rome 1976) The Neophytes 1934 encaustic tempera on panelRome, private collection

In addition to easel painting, Cagli, who was a great experimenter, also dabbled in ceramics and mural painting, in this case using the Pompeian technique of encaustic tempera. His debt to the Old Masters can be seen both in the composition which echoes Renaissance work, and in his reference to Italian 15th-century figure painting. The individual on the left, for instance, is clearly based on Piero della Francesca’s Baptism of Christ.

2.03

marino marini (pistoia 1901–viareggio 1980) The Swimmer 1932 sculpted and carved woodFlorence, Museo Marino Marini

The Swimmer reveals both the influence of Ernesto De Fiori and Arturo Martini on Marini in the early 1930s and Marini’s own interest in Etruscan, Egyptian and especially Roman art. Using wood (the humble, anti-academic material par excellence), the artist emphasises the young man’s Individual features through the use of clear and simple modelling.

2.04

lucio fontana (rosario de Santa fé 1899–varese 1968)Olympic Champion (Waiting Athlete)1932 coloured plasterBologna, Collezioni d’arte e di storia della Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna

On returning to Milan from Argentina, Fontana moved away both from the style of Wildt, his master, and from the neo-15th-century monumentality favoured by the Novecentisti. In the Champion, a portrait of Abruzzo fencer Ciro Verratti, Fontana worked in parallel on his first abstract experiments and on this sculpture, in which modelling takes precedence over construction and colour is used to achieve expression.

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2.09

fauSto pirandello (rome 1899–1975) Objects1937oil on panelRome, GNAM - Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea

Pirandello—who began to take an interest in this genre during his first stay in Paris, under the influence of Picasso, Braque, Gris and the Italiens de Paris—replaced the expression “still life” with the recurrent title of Objects in the early 1930s. Humble items are portrayed in accordance with a purely painterly rationale, using a colour range comprising predominantly earth and ochre hues.

2.10

mario mafai (rome 1902–65)The Demolition of the Spina in the Borgo 1939 oil on canvasRome, GNAM - Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea

The Demolitions group of paintings, on which Mafai worked from 1936 on, was inspired by the urban destruction and redevelopment promoted in Rome by the Fascist regime around the Augusteum, the “spina” (a huddle of medieval streets between the Tiber and St. Peter’s, demolished to make way for Via della Conciliazione) and the Colosseum (to create Via dell’Impero, now Via dei Fori Imperiali). The artist’s own home was one of those demolished in the process.

2.07

Scipione (gino bonichi; macerata 1904–arco 1933) The Octopus (The Molluscs, Pierina Has Arrived in a Big City) 1929 oil on panelMacerata, Fondazione Carima - Museo Palazzo Ricci

The Octopus is part of a series of still lifes which Scipione painted in Rome after the summer of 1929, when the lung disease that was eventually to kill him appeared momentarily to have abated. These paintings, with their flowing brushwork, share both their subject matter and the aerial viewpoint, while the artist’s use of red and black lends them a sumptuous finish.

2.08

renato guttuSo (bagheria 1911–rome 1987) Portrait of Guglielmo Pasqualino, Surgeon 1935 oil on plywoodPalermo, private collection

The figure of Palermo surgelo Guglielmo Pasqualino—the husband of painter Lia Noto, co-founder of the “Group of Four” along with Guttuso and sculptors Giovanni Barbera and Nino Franchina—appears to merge in a maelstrom with the surrounding space. The mask is an allusion to his surgical career but also echoes the Expressionism of James Ensor, in whose work it is a recurrent motif.

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2.13

lia paSQualino noto (palermo 1909–98)The Nurse 1931 oil on panelPalermo, Galleria d’Arte Moderna “Empedocle Restivo”

In the early part of her career the artist’s work reflected Casorati’s influence in the sharp outlines of her architecture, in her icy palette and in her strongly geometric construction. These features began to change in 1932 when the painter became a founder member of the Group of Four, a group of painters who favoured the modernisation of Italian art through the use of an artistic vocabulary diametrically opposed to that of the Novecentisti.

2.14

giovanni barbera (palermo 1909–35) Woman Seated 1934–5 coloured terracottaPalermo, Galleria d’Arte Moderna “Empedocle Restivo”

Woman Seated is one of the last sculptures the artist produced before his death at only twenty-six. A member of the Group of Four, Barbera infuses his work with a strong lyrical tone by adopting a style that filters and reinterprets the influence of Arturo Martini. The figure betrays a taste for the archaic, in an anti-rhetorical and anti-monumental vein.

2.11

renato guttuSo (bagheria 1911–rome 1987) Friends in the Studio (Portrait of Guttuso, Franchina, Barbera in the Studio in Corso Pisani, Palermo)1935 oil on panelPrivate collection

Guttuso portrays himself in the foreground with his friends Nino Franchina on the left and GiovanniBarbera in the centre, in the Palermo studio in which the two sculptors led a Bohemian lifestyle. The picture, with its intimate mood, may have been painted after Barbera’s early death in 1935.

2.12

pippo riZZo (corleone 1897–palermo 1964)The Nomad 1929 oil on canvasPalermo, Galleria d’Arte Moderna “Empedocle Restivo”

This picture, painted the year the artist was appointed secretary of the Sicilian Regional Fascist FineArts Union, marks his transition from Futurism to the Novecento movement. The portrait of his friend Guido Cesareo, cutting an arrogant figure in front of a train, betrays its Futurist origins, yet it dissolves into the mannered treatment of the art déco posters of the era.

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2.17

mario radice (como 1898–milan 1987) Composition G.R.U 35/B (Composition no. 85)1937 oil on cardboardComo, Pinacoteca Civica

A leading light both in the Abstract movement in Lombardy in the 1930s and in the interaction between painters and architects that was a distinctive feature of the art scene in Como, Radice often clings to some shred of reality even in his abstract work. His Compositions G.R.U.—one of the many acronyms (not all of which have been deciphered) that he adopted to distinguish his pictures—were painted in 1937.

2.18

oSvaldo licini (monte vidon corrado 1894–1958)Castle in the Air 1936 mixed techniques on canvasRovereto, MART - Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Augusto and Francesca Giovanardi Collection

In 1931 Licini marked his distance from the Futurists and Morandi, moving towards a more abstract style which he showed for the first time at the 2nd Quadriennale in 1935. The picture was defaced by vandals at an exhibition in 1936, which may explain the black zigzag motif at the bottom right, probably intended to cover part of the damage.

2.15

fauSto melotti (rovereto 1901–milan 1986) The Supper at Emmaus 1933 plasterPrivate collection

This Supper is part of a movement to renew religious art between the wars. In the early 1930s Melotti’s fresh take on Valori Plastici and Carrà’s primitivism can be detected in Melotti’s graphic treatment of surfaces, in his rendering of faces, in his figures’ tubular limbs, in the group’s unstable spatial balance and in the inverted perspective of the table.

2.16

ivanhoe gambini (busto arsizio 1904–92) Josephine Baker 1929 tempera sprayed with an airbrush on paperGambini Legacy

The artist adapted the feather motif from a 1927 poster of Josephine Baker by Michel Gyarmathy for the Folies Bergères, while he borrowed the banana costume, tailor-made for the dancer by Paul Seltenhammer, from Paul Colin’s lithographs. Gambini shows Baker performing a frenzied Charleston in her Danse Sauvage, also introducing the star’s partner on the left.

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enrico prampolini (modena 1894–rome 1956) Cosmic Analogies (Cosmic Apparition) 1930oil on plywoodVenice, Fondazione Musei Civici Veneziani, Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna di Ca’ Pesaro

The female figure in Cosmic Analogies is highly stylised, maintaining only the basic features of a woman: her breasts, and a belly spawning a sphere resembling a planet. The work is an aeropaintingbased on a personal fantasy with virtually no illustrative intent at all.

2.19

tullio crali (igalo 1910–milan 2000)Horizontal Spin1938 oil on plywoodRome, Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Roma Capitale

Crali drew on his own flying experience for this “aeropainting”, producing a subjective vision thathighlights his emotional involvement. The city is seen from the perspective of the aircraft’s fuselage, complicated by the optical spinning effect that seems to be dragging the buildings upwards into a space in which the clouds part, allowing the sun’s rays to filter through.

2.20

oSvaldo peruZZi (milan 1907–livorno 2004) Aeropainting 1934 oil on cardboardRome, Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Roma Capitale

Osvaldo Peruzzi produced this work in 1934, two years after joining the Futurist group. The aeropainting trend was officially launched with Marinetti’s publication of the Futurist Manifesto in 1929. The painting shows how Peruzzi’s “mechanical” training merged with a lyrical mood that was to be a constant feature of his artistic output.

35

travelling artiStS

3.01

mario toZZi (fossombrone 1895–Saint-Jean-du-gard 1979)Figures with Architecture1929oil on canvasBern, Kunstmuseum Bern, Staat Bern

Mario Tozzi founded the Group of Seven—the first manifestation of the Italiens de Paris—with Campigli, de Chirico, de Pisis, Paresce, Savinio and Severini in the 1920s. His paintings, which combine a Metaphysical sense of unease with the plasticity of the Novecentisti, often tackle the theme of the artist and his model, with an overall classical mood offset by a modern architectural setting.

Italian artists entertainer relations with their foreign counterparts, especially in France where the colony known as the Italiens de Paris (de Chirico, Savinio, Campigli, Tozzi, de Pisis, Severini and Paresce), while not immune to local influence, brought with them an Italian sense of “classicism” that elicide widespread admiration and imitation. Ties with Germany are less well-known, although Gabriele Mucchi played an important role as mediator between artistic circles in Milan and Berlin. Travel to Italy, or the influence of Italian art on the work of such artists as Wiegmann from ermany, Cheyssial from France or Halliday from England, spawned works which, while up-to-date in their artistic vocabulary, continued to echo the ideals of the past.

34

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3.04

vinicio paladini (moscow 1902–rome 1971) Dream Complex no. 1 1932 oil on canvasPrivate collection

A rare example of an anti-Fascist Futurist, Paladini—an architect, artist, set and poster designer—took an interest in such international centres of art as Vienna, New York and Paris at an early age. In Dream Complex no. 1, the silent dialogue between a bold nude seen from behind and a plaster cast of Hadrian’s favourite Antinous mingles surrealism with allusions to the German New Objectivity movement.

3.05

alberto Savinio (andrea de chirico; athens 1891– florence 1952)Departure of the Prodigal Son 1932 tempera on paperSantomato di Pistoia, Gori Collection - Fattoria di Celle

Settling in Paris, the eclectic Savinio produced his first “men with beasts’ heads” in 1930, composing them rather like a collage. The woman with a pelican’s head is based on a photograph of his mother seated, in strict accordance with 19th century iconography of the couple, next to her standing husband. He, in turn, is portrayed by placing a giraffe’s head on a male figure from the Geschichte der Costüme.

3.02

maSSimo campigli (max ihlenfeldt; berlin 1895–Saint tropez 1971) The Gypsies 1928 oil on canvasRovereto, MART - Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Augusto and Francesca Giovanardi Collection

The painting is part of a cycle combining the influence of a visit to the Etruscan antiquities in theMuseo di Villa Giulia in Rome with memories of a trip to Romania. The subject hints at the gypsies’ ancestral activities—rearing horses, reading palms and producing ceramics—with explicit references to modern European painting, from de Chirico’s Ariadne to Picasso’s nude boy onhorseback.

3.03

renato pareSce (carouge 1886–paris 1937) Statue 1929 oil on canvas Milan, Museo del Novecento

A physicist, self-taught painter and journalist, Paresce, who frequented the circle of artists in Montparnasse and worked as La Stampa’s Paris correspondent, joined the Italiens de Paris in 1928. His style merges echoes of the Metaphysical school with nostalgia for a classical reperto ire of statues, blind arches, cracked walls and architectural backdrops.

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3.08

filippo de piSiS (luigi tibertelli; ferrara 1896–milan 1956) Little French Soldier (Soldier in the Studio) 1937 oil on canvasCortina d’Ampezzo, Museo d’Arte Moderna “Mario Rimoldi“ delle Regole d’Ampezzo

Portrait painting played a major role in de Pisis’ artistic output from the very beginning, in the early 1920s. His favourite sitters were his friends, relatives, acquaintances as well as adolescents, beggars and soldiers. The young man in uniform is portrayed in the Paris apartment, jam-packed with furniture and paintings, in which de Pisis took up residence in 1930.

3.09

georgeS cheySSial (paris 1907–97) Bathing at the Milvian Bridge [Baignade au Ponte Milvio] 1936 oil on canvasBoulogne-Billancourt, Collection du M-A30 Musée des Années 30

The picture was painted while Cheyssial was staying in Rome after winning a scholarship—the Grand Prix de Rome—in 1932. In Italy, Cheyssial was heavily influenced by the work of Masaccio, as we can see from the way he handles the nude, but for his compositions he turned to Poussin revisited through Seurat’s Baignade. The painting is based on studies from life which he then reworked in his studio.

3.06

giorgio de chirico (volos 1888–rome 1978)Southern Songc. 1930oil on canvasFlorence, Galleria d’arte moderna di Palazzo Pitti

Returning to Paris in 1925, de Chirico revisited the mannequins typical of his painting in Ferrara. In Southern Song, the figure playing a guitar carries in his lap a blazing sun and a white building that harks back to the painter’s childhood in Greece. The painting was shown at an exhibition of the artist’s work organised by antiquarian Luigi Bellini in his gallery in Palazzo Ferroni in Florence in 1932.

3.07

carlo levi (turin 1902–rome 1975)Portrait of de Pisis with a Parrot 1933 oil on canvasRome, Fondazione Carlo Levi

Levi’s portraits, which played such a central role in his artistic output, are the key to tracing his friendships. This picture of de Pisis shows us whom the Italiens de Paris frequented. De Pisis’ eccentricity is revealed in the medals, the monocle, the earring, the rings worn over a leather glove, the polka dot tie, the flower in his lapel and the parrot, Cocò, perched on his shoulder.

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3.12

Jenny wiegmann mucchi (berlin 1895–1969) St. John the Baptist (?) 1930sterracotta, cement and sandZeno Birolli

Formerly on the grave of Renato Birolli’s father, the sculpture, which probably represents St. John the Baptist, was later removed from the tomb and transferred to the painter’s Milan home. Jenny Wiegmann, a German artist who converted to Catholicism, shared her professional and private life with Gabriele Mucchi after 1931. Her work contains frequent references to religious iconography.

3.13

erneSto de fiori (rome 1884–São paulo 1945) The Fugitive [Fliehender]1934 bronzeBerlino, Staatliche Museen Berlin, Nationalgalerie

Ernesto De Fiori tackled only portrait painting (especially half-length portraits) and the female and male nude, generally standing and engaged in actions barely hinted at. In The Fugitive he develops his interest in rendering the notion of movement. A highly regarded but isolated sculptor, he moved to Berlin in 1914 and then to Brasil in 1936, initially living in Rio de Janeiro and subsequently in São Paulo.

3.10

edward irvine halliday (liverpool 1902–84) Hypnos, God of Sleep 1928oil on canvasLiss Fine Art

Hypnos, painted for the Woolton home of businessman Sir Benjamin Johnson, shows the Greek god of slumber whose presence sends peasants to sleep in the Roman countryside. Painted in Italy in 1925, during a three-year study holiday which Halliday won at the British School, the picture is part of a group of works on mythological themes designed as wall decorations.

3.11

gabriele mucchi (turin 1899–milan 2002)Masks1930 oil on canvasPrivate collection

Masks, which Mucchi painted in Germany in early 1930 and then took with him to Paris in 1931, may depict a masked ball which sculptor Ernesto De Fiori held in his Berlin studio. It also hints at Mucchi’s passion for contemporary theatre and at one of the five sketches produced for Massimo Bontempelli’s Nostra Dea.

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publicart

4.01

lucio fontana (rosario de Santa fé 1899–varese 1968)The Harpooner (Harpoon Fisherman; Fisherman)1934 gold, silver, white and black coloured plasterParma, CSAC, Università di Parma, sezione arte

This work won first prize in the Tantardini competition for young Lombard sculptors to produce statues to adorn the fountain in Milan’s fish market in May 1934, although there was some controversy over the fact that Fontana was just over the 35-year age limit. The artist, who was still only a sculptor at the time, produced a work that manages to achieve abstraction through the use of gold despite its apparent naturalism.

The idea of art as communication and as a means of conveying a political message is one of the major themes of the 1930s. In 1933 Mario Sironi wrote the Manifesto of Muralism and the 5th Milan Triennale devoted its brand new exhibition space to the same theme. This was the year which saw the birth of the concept that artists should subscribe to Fascist doctrine and disseminate its message to the general public through painting, sculpture, bas-reliefs and mosaics in public spaces such as stations, post offices and law courts. These major decorative schemes, inseparable from the architecture for which they were designed, are represented by a selection of preparatory drawings and sketches by the leading Italian artists of the time: Sironi, Severini, Funi, Martini and Fontana.

42

44 45

4.04

mario Sironi (Sassari 1885–milan 1961)Justice and Law (cartoon for mosaic entitled Corporative Italy)1936–7 mixed techniques on sugar paper (transferred onto canvas)Private collection

The Corporative Italy mosaic, for which this is an autograph cartoon, is one of Sironi’s most complex largescale public works. Designed for the 6th Milan Triennale in 1936, it could only be displayed in part and was not presented whole until it was shown in the Italian Pavilion at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1937.

4.05

arturo martini (treviso 1889–milan 1947) Head of Victory 1938 bardiglio marbleTreviso, Musei Civici

Martini received numerous public commissions in the years that saw the rebirth of the “grand decoration” and the peak of the regime’s propaganda effort. The Head is a replica of a fragment of the Heroes in Corporative Justice, a monumental group in high relief for Milan’s new law courts. Martini produced a plaster version first, following it up with a marble version carved in Carrara.

4.02

carlo carrà (Quargnento 1881–milan 1966) Female Figure Rising from the Grave 1938–9 charcoal on sugar paper glued onto canvasMilan, Museo del Novecento

Carrà is one of the artists who took part in the decoration of the Palazzo di Giustizia, Milan’s law courts, following a design by Marcello Piacentini. The frescoes, intended for public areas, adopt a simple structure echoing the Renaissance tradition, as shown by this drawing on squared paper for the Last Judgment with its clear debt to 15th-century art.

4.03

achille funi (virgilio Socrate funi; ferrara 1890–appiano gentile 1972)The Legend of Phaëton1936 coloured pastels and charcoal on canvas-backed paperMilan, private collection. Courtesy Studio d’Arte Nicoletta Colombo

A leading player in the debate on the rebirth of the “grand decoration”, Funi was involved in numerous projects in the 1930s, including the decoration of the Council Chamber in Ferrara’s town hall. The cycle of frescoes, commissioned by his friend Italo Balbo, also from Ferrara, refers to the city’s history and mythology. In this preparatory cartoon Zeus hurls Phaëton into the river Eridanus, now the Po.

46

contraStS

Both aesthetic and ideological reasons lay behind the clash in the art world of the 1930s. The contrast between modernity and tradition gradually deteriorated until, in an increasingly radical international context, it turned into an open clash with the dramatic debate around “degenerate art” in Germany. Two conflicting exhibitions were inaugurated in Munich in 1937, one on Entartete Kunst (“Degenerate Art”) with avantgarde work confiscated from German museums and banned by the Nazi Regime, the other entitled the Great Exhibition of German Art with traditional painting and sculpture celebrating the German people and the power of the Third Reich. In Italy, this dichotomy, which came to a head in the racial laws of 1938, was reflected in the clash that took place around 1940 between the “reactionary” Cremona Award, devised by Fascist hierarch Roberto Farinacci to extol the virtues of Fascism with illustrative works of art, and the Bergamo Award, for which some of the entries were outright modernist provocations and which won the support of National Education Minister Giuseppe Bottai.

4.06-4.07-4.08

gino Severini (cortona 1883–paris 1966)Comprehensive Sketch for Monument on Viale del Monolite in the Foro Italico (first version) 1937 tempera and white lead on card

Athletes and Still life for the Foro Italico (left-hand side of the Viale del Monolite) 1937 tempera and pencil on card

Athletes and Chronometer for the Foro Italico (right-hand side of the Viale del Monolite) 1937 tempera and pencil on cardRome, Romana Severini Brunori

Architect Luigi Moretti commissioned Severini to produce two cycles of mosaics for the Foro Mussolini in Rome (rechristened Foro Italico in 1943). The sketch in the middle shows the initial idea for the overall project (subsequently much altered), while the other two show the final versions of the panels on Viale del Monolite.

47

48 49

5.02

otto diX (untermhaus 1891–Singen 1969)Dedicated to Sadists [Sadisten gewidmet]1922watercolour, pencil, pen and black ink on paperNew York, Dr. and Mrs. Jerome and Elizabeth Levy

The theme of sadism, referred to in the title of this painting and a recurrent theme in Dix’s work,merges here with the iconography of prostitution, while the poses recall the world of the circus, a frequent subject in his work in 1922. The woman’s crudely depicted body is the antithesis of the contrived classicism with which the female figure was to be idealised by Nazi painting in the following decade.

5.03

otto diX (untermhaus 1891–Singen 1969)Pair of Lovers [Liebespaar]1925–6watercolour, gouache and india ink over colored pencil drawingNew York, Dr. and Mrs. Jerome and Elizabeth Levy

Dix frequently tackled the theme of lovers in the 1920s. When the couple becomes “uneven”, its eroticism verging on the obscene, Dix’s portrayal of physical decadence becomes an allegory of death. Dix’s works were removed from German museums when the Nazis seized power, and some of them were shown at the Entartete Kunst exhibition in Munich in 1937.

5.01

george groSZ (berlin 1893–1959) After the Questioning [Nach der Befragung]1935 watercolour, bamboo nib and pen on paper New York, Dr. and Mrs. Jerome and Elizabeth Levy

When Grosz painted this picture, he had already been in the United States for two years, while his work in Germany was confiscated and destroyed. On close inspection, the details—blood, a broken pair of glasses, objects used for torture, torn trousers, a policeman’s boots, a truncheon—shift the significance of the scene away from the specific incident itself to the broader horror of the era.

50 51

5.05-5.06

corrado cagli (ancona 1910–rome 1976)View of Rome I (Triumph of Rome; Allegorical View of Rome)View of Rome II (Triumph of Rome; Allegorical View of Rome)1937 encaustic tempera on honeycomb panelRome, private collection

These panels are part of a cycle produced for the Italian Pavilion at the 1937 Exposition Universelle in Paris. The cycle was felt to be insufficiently celebratory and disrespectful of “Romanitas”. Galeazzo Ciano unsuccessfully ordered its destruction, heralding the change in political climate caused by the racial laws of 1938, when Cagli had to move to Paris and then to New York. These two dreamlike views of Rome are a compilation of famous buildings of the imperial and papal cities alongside ordinary, humdrum dwellings.

5.07

renato birolli (verona 1905–milan 1959) Chaos 1936 oil on canvasMilan, G. Iannaccone Collection

Published on page three of Il Tevere on 24−25 November 1938 as an example of the degenerate nature of “foreign, Bolshevik and Jewish” art, the title Chaos was chosen on account of the painting’s Expressionist character. A suspicion of anti-Fascism must also have played a part in the attack on Birolli, who was arrested in 1937 and risked imprisonment.

5.04

adolf Ziegler (bremen 1892–varnhalt 1959)The Four Elements [Die vier Elemente]before 1937canvas Munich, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen - Pinakothek der Moderne

This large allegory—the work of modern art most often reproduced in Nazi Germany—played a major role in the Grosse Deutsche Kunstausstellung in Munich in 1937, held to celebrate the purity of the new national art. In fact, it was considered so important that it was hung over the fireplace in the Führerbau in Munich. The female figures of Ziegler, Hitler’s artistic adviser, embody the racialideals of Nazism.

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5.10

manlio rho (como 1901–57)Composition 43 1936 tempera on cardboardLuciano Caramel

The artist worked on his first abstract paintings as a member of the “Como Group” in 1933 and 1934. A keen reader of foreign magazines, Rho, who first worked at the Regio Istituto Nazionale di Setificio and later at the Tessitura Serica Aliverti e Stecchini in Como, kept current with developments in the visual arts by combining his professional and artistic interests.

5.11

gino ghiringhelli (virginio ghiringhelli; milan 1898–San vito di cremia 1964) Composition no. 7 1934 oil on canvasRovereto, MART - Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, VAF-Stiftung

After training at the Brera, Ghiringhelli founded the Galleria del Milione with his brother Peppinoin November 1930. He worked on his first abstract pictures in 1933 and drafted a Declaration in 1934 in which he broadcast his aspiration to classicism and to geometric balance, which he identified in the rhythms of both classical and rationalist architecture and in the proportions of the Renaissance masters.

5.08

lucio fontana (rosario de Santa fé 1899–varese 1968) Abstract Sculpture 1934 (1950s)coloured iron on bronze baseTurin, GAM - Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea

In the 1930s, his experimentalism steering well clear of any confrontation between the abstract and the figurative, Fontana’s works transforming sculpture into a “drawing in space” provided him with a chance for enrichment. He was in the forefront of sculptural research in Europe and his abstract works were shown in a one-man exhibition in the Galleria del Milione in Milan in 1935.

5.09

fauSto melotti (rovereto 1901–milan 1986) Sculpture no. 11 1934 (c. 1960) bronzeMilan, Marta Melotti

Melotti, a lover of music, incorporated the principles of harmony and counterpoint in his work and joined in the debate on abstract art. A member of the group that gravitated around the Galleria del Milione, he held his first one-man exhibition there in 1935, showing eighteen sculptures conceived as “drawings in space,” made of materials treated in what was an unusual manner for the time.

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5.12

mauro reggiani (nonantola 1897–milan 1980) Composition 1934 oil on canvasRovereto, MART - Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, VAF-Stiftung

Reggiani, who came to Milan in 1925, gradually moved away from Novecentista models and, discovering the work of Cézanne and the Cubists in the course of two trips to Paris, he made his first attempts at abstract art between 1933 and 1934. The artist displays a sensitivity to space, colour and artistic vocabulary that embraces in full the precepts of Synthetic Cubism and the typical visual language of the still life.

5.13

luciano ricchetti (piacenza 1897–1977)Mother and Child (fragment of Listening)1939 oil on canvasPiacenza, Galleria d’Arte Moderna Ricci Oddi

In 1939 Ricchetti entered and won the Cremona Award competition—devoted to the theme: “Listening to a speech by the Duce”—with a large canvas depicting a poor, rural interior. The painting was destroyed in 1945 in contempt of Fascism, with only the Mother and Child and a handful of other fragments surviving. The painting’s rustic simplicity, plastic solidity and emotional strength are reminiscent of certain Renaissance Madonnas.

teleSio interlandi (chiaramonte gulfi 1894-roma 1965)An Authoritative Opinion of “Modern” Art: Foreign, Bolshevik and JewishIl Tevere, 24−5 November 1938, no. 23MiBAC-Biblioteca nazionale centrale Firenze Concurrently with the government’s approval of the laws on the defence of the race in November 1938, this article by Telesio Interlandi branded the work of Metaphysical painters Carrà and de Chirico, of the Ex-pressionist Birolli, of Abstract artists Fontana, Ghiringhelli, Reggiani and Rho, of Rationalist architects Lingeri and Terragni and of Corrado Cagli as “degenerate”. One can detect here the influence of Nazi racism, which had spawned an exhibition of “dege-nerate art” in Munich.

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5.14

pietro gaudenZi (genoa 1880–anticoli corrado 1955)Wheatc. 1940mural on plaster applied to MasoniteCremona, Sistema Museale della Città di Cremona - Museo Civico “Ala Ponzone”

Gaudenzi took part in the second edition of the Cremona Award—on the “Battle for Grain” theme—in 1940 and won first prize. The “Fascist Novecentismo: strong, vigorous and epic” extolled by Farinacci became, in Gaudenzi’s work, a bombastic composition inspired by the classical monumentality of Renaissance painting, including the unusual polyptych format.

5.15

renato guttuSo (bagheria 1911–rome 1987)Study for the “Crucifixion”1940–41tempera and oil on canvas-backed paperArchivi Guttuso

Guttuso showed one of the most emblematic works of his early maturity at the fourth edition of the Bergamo Award in 1942. The Crucifixion caused something of a stir, in particular on account of the angle from which the scene is viewed, with Christ partly covered by one of the thieves. This drawing is his first study for the large canvas, where Guttuso chose a claustrophobic interior to allude to contemporary torture.

5.16

criStoforo de amiciS (alessandria 1902–milan 1987) Figure 1942 oil on canvasCristoforo De Amicis Archive

This work was presented at the fourth edition of the Bergamo Award in 1942. De Amicis achieves a perfect balance in this portrait of his wife: while the free brushstrokes and the sitter’s features recall the style of Van Gogh (with echoes of Cézanne). The pose and the wallpaper are reminiscent of Matisse yet the artist’s original vision also owes a debt to Lombard Chiarismo.

5.17

afro baSaldella (udine 1912–Zurich 1976) The Armchair (The Chair)1942 oil on canvasPrivate collection. Courtesy Fondazione Archivio Afro

This picture—one of the winners of the fourth (and last) edition of the Bergamo Award in 1942—clearly echoes Van Gogh’s Gauguin’s Chair in the material quality of the brushstrokes, while the artist’s use of colour (reminiscent of the Venetian school) and his distorted outlines betray the influence of the Rome school painters whose work was also on display in this competition.

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5.18

mario marcucci (viareggio 1910–92) Portrait 1932 oil on canvasPrivate collection

Artists were allowed to choose their own themes in the 1941 edition of the Bergamo Award, although the two main prizes were still reserved for landscape and figure painting. The prize for figure painting was (somewhat controversially) awarded to this Portrait. Marcucci, a self-taught artist of humble social extraction whose painting is based on grattage and opaque glazing, succeeds in probing his sitter’s inner world.

5.19

giuSeppe migneco (messina 1908–milan 1997) Shepherds of the Island 1940 oil on canvasRome, GNAM - Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea

The Shepherds of the Island was presented at the second edition of the Bergamo Award, where theprizes went to those works of art that espoused freer and newer trends such as those of the Rome school, or of the Milan-based Corrente group of which Migneco was a member. The artist’s style is imbued with a violence of expression and a distortion of shape reminiscent of the work of Van Gogh.

5.20

ennio morlotti (lecco 1910–milan 1992) Still life 1941 oil on canvasTurin, GAM - Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea

This Still life won one of ten second prizes at the third edition of the Bergamo Award in 1941. The painting is part of a series of still lifes by Morlotti, in which the composition reveals a debt to Morandi and to the Metaphysical school, while the intensity of the colours, which he keeps sober and toned down, seems to point to an interest in the work of Picasso.

deSign and the applied artS

The 1930s were deeply marked by the spread of the mechanical reproduction of images and objects, while another major change was the “massification” of social life, communication and conduct. In terms of the applied arts this involved the concept and practice of standardisation. The exhibits on display reflect the contrast between mass-produced art and the individually crafted (often luxury) item. The marriage of artistic invention and suitability for mass production is typical of vases and ceramics, which are often unique items of the highest artistic quality. The trend towards mass production is best represented by seating (new tubular chairs) and lighting (rationalist lamps). A selection of historical photographs from the two most important Triennali of the decade—1933 and 1936—illustrates “rational” housing, while short sequences of period footage recreate the modern interiors of the period.

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6.01-6.04

giuSeppe pagano (porec 1896–mauthausen 1945)SIAM Chair1930–1tubular metal and woodTurin, Galleria Cristiani

agnoldomenico pica (padua 1907–milan 1990)Chair1933steel and woodMilan, Castello Sforzesco, Civiche Raccolte d’Arte Applicata

gabriele mucchi (turin 1899–milan 2002)Stacking Chair Model S51936chromium-plated steel and plywoodGenua, Wolfsoniana– Fondazione regionale per la Cultura e lo Spettacolo

giuSeppe terragni (meda 1904–como 1943) Three Chairs for the Sant’Elia Kindergarten (Chair 427; Chair 412; “Lariana” Chair) 1936–7wood and tubular metal constructionComo, Pinacoteca Civica

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6.05-6.08

tullio d’albiSola (tullio mazzotti; albisola 1899-1971) Loves-Flowers Vase 1929glazed terracottaMilan, Castello Sforzesco, Civiche Raccolte d’Arte Applicata

tullio d’albiSola (tullio mazzotti; albisola 1899-1971) Witches Vase 1929glazed terracottaMilan, Castello Sforzesco, Civiche Raccolte d’Arte Applicata

6.11-6.16

guido andlovitZ (trieste 1900–monfalcone 1971)Flask with Hazelnut Leaf Motif1930earthenwareMilan, Castello Sforzesco, Civiche Raccolte d’Arte Applicata

giovanni gariboldi (milan 1908–1971)Vase1938–42earthenwarePrivate collection

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oScar torlaSco Cup for the “Littoriali dello Sport” sporting eventbefore 1936silver Milan, Castello Sforzesco, Civiche Raccolte d’Arte Applicata

vetrerie S.a.l.i.r.Vase with Roman Salute 1936glass with engraved figures; smoked blown glass Milan, Castello Sforzesco, Civiche Raccolte d’Arte Applicata6.09-6.10

guido andlovitZ (trieste 1900–monfalcone 1971)Vase with marine decorations1930earthenwareMilan, Castello Sforzesco, Civiche Raccolte d’arte Applicata

richard-ginori to a design by gio ponti (milan 1891–1979) Vase decorated with a Prolific Siren 1929–30majolicaSesto Fiorentino, Museo Richard-Ginori della Manifattura di Doccia

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lucio fontana (rosario de Santa fé 1899–varese 1968)Crab 1936–7stonewarePrivate collection

Salvatore fancello (dorgali 1916–bregu rapit 1941) Octopus1938–9enamelled and highlighted ceramicPrivate collection

richard-ginori to a design by gio ponti (milan 1891–1979)Vase decorated with the “Triumph of Death”c. 1930 porcelain and gold engraved with an agate-tipped stylusSesto Fiorentino, Museo Richard-Ginori della Manifattura di Doccia

richard-ginori to a design by gio ponti (milan 1891–1979) Urn with lid decorated with the “Triumph of Love”porcelain and gold engraved with an agate-tipped stylusSesto Fiorentino, Museo Richard-Ginori della Manifattura di Doccia

6.17-6.20

luciano baldeSSari (rovereto 1896–milan 1982)Luminator. Prototype for a standard lamp 1929chromium-plated steely iron, woodMilan, Comune di Milano, CASVA - Centro di Alti Studi sulle Arti Visive, Fondo Luciano Baldessarri

pietro chieSa(milan 1892–paris 1948)Luminator 1933varnished brassMilan, Aria d’Italia

pietro chieSa (milan 1892–paris 1948)Standard lamp with orientable pods 1936glass and metalPrivate collection

franco albini (robbiate 1905–milan 1977)Machine-Gun Lamp1940brass and aluminiumMilano, Fondazione Franco Albini

radio Studio“pleaSe turn your radio down”

At 9 o’clock in the evening on 6 October 1924, a concert inaugurated Italy’s first radio broadcast, kicking off the era of radio that was to have such an impact on the country’s life, mindset and habits. Fascism soon realised the communication potential of the radio, which “allowed even the illiterate to read”, and 1928 saw the establishment of the Ente Italiano Audizioni Radiofoniche, E.I.A.R., the public body that became the regime’s mouthpiece. One family in five owned a radio by the late 1930s, but there were also radios in the Case del Fascio, in schools and in bars, and loudspeakers were set up in public squares to broadcast the Duce’s speeches—an extraordinarily effective tool of propaganda whose purpose was underscored by the announcers’ pompous, rhetorical style.But above all the public appreciated the radio as a means of escapist distraction. Dance music, sports commentaries and I Quattro Moschettieri, a review broadcast from 1934 to 1937, were among the most successful programmes. When the racial laws were introduced in 1938, Jews were banned from owning any kind of broadcasting equipment.

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6.21-6.30

v triennale, milano, 1933la triennale di milano, archivio fotografico (foto crimella)

The housing exhibition at the 5 Milan Triennale in 1933 became a venue for presenting the ideas of Italy’s young rationalist architects to the general public. The pavilion-houses, fully furnished in accordance with modern taste, displayed a close and direct link between interior design and architecture, showcasing the results of advanced research in the organisation of space and the use of new materials.

6.31-6.40

vi triennale, milano, 1936la triennale di milano, archivio fotografico (foto crimella)

The debate on contemporary housing continued to play a crucial role at the 6th Milan Triennale in 1936. Architects, working in teams, addressed the problem of interior design in terms of industrialmanufacture, seeking solutions reflecting the concept of standard furnishings for standard rooms. Mass production and interchangeability were essential aspects of any home aspiring to modernity.

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audio trackS in the radio Studio

6 october 1924 First Italian radio broadcast

“Bird sound”, jingle before start of day’s broadcasting

1934-5 The 4 Musketeers

18 december 1935 Gold for the Mother Country

9 may 1936 Empire proclaimed

1St auguSt 1936 Hitler declares Berlin Olympics open

2 march 1939 Eugenio Pacelli elected Pope Pius XII

1939 King Victor Emmanuel III addresses the Senate

10 June 1940 War declared

1931 Carlo Buti, Signorinella

1938 Tito Schipa, Vivere

1938 Trio Lescano, Ma le gambe

1939 Gilberto Mazzi, Mille lire al mese

1940 Alberto Rabagliati, Quando la Radio

1939 Renzo Mori, Maramao perché sei morto

1932 Tino Rossi, Parlami d’amore Mariù (da Gli uomini che mascalzoni)

1935 Carlo Buti, Faccetta nera,

We would like to thank for the Audio Tracks Istituto Centrale per i Beni Sonori e Audiovisivi - RAI Teche

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florence

Florence in the 1930s was a vibrant centre of intellectual and artistic activity, with cultural magazines such as Solaria, Il Selvaggio, Il Frontespizio, Letteratura and Campo di Marte representing strongly contrasting positions on literary, artistic, musical and architectural issues.Even within the same magazine there was a keen and lively debate among painters, musicians andliterary figures such as Montale, who directed the Gabinetto Vieusseux from 1929 to 1938. Acrucial topic in the debate was the human figure, balancing between the legacy of the Renaissanceartists and such International figures as Hildebrand, Berenson and de Chirico. A performance bythe Maggio Musicale Fiorentino was emblematic of the condition of modern man: Volo di notte byLuigi Dallapiccola, staged on 18 May 1940, less than a month before Italy so dramatically entered the war.

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welcome to radio palaZZo StroZZi!

The Palazzo Strozzi believes in ‘visible listening’ and this is a perfect opportunity to make your voice heard – and to help create an archive of our visitors’ memories.If the red ‘on air’ light is off, feel free to come in, sit down and interview your friends or family. When you are ready to record, just press the red button and the ‘on air’ sign will light up. When you are finished, press the button again, and the ‘on air’ sign will go out. Your interview will be automatically downloaded, and every week the best interviews will be featured in the Radio Studio. Your interview may even be used in a radio broadcast.Some questions you might ask include:1. What made you cry when you were little?2. What was the best moment of your life?3. “my grandmother always told me…”4. Tell me about what you have in your pocketsRemember, there are other voices waiting to be heard, so please limit your interview to three minutes. The big clock on the wall will let you know when your time’s almost up!

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7.03

guido peyron (florence 1898–1960)Portrait of the Poet Montale1932 oil on canvasGrassina, Pier Francesco Vallecchi

Peyron painted numerous portraits of his intellectual friends. This portrait of Montale is set in a broad seascape, a visual rendering of his collection of poems entitled Ossi di seppia, or Cuttlefish Bones, published in 1925. Objects symbolising the poems—an agave, a cuttlefish bone and a luminous yet empty expanse of sea—stand out in the indirect, shadowless light.

7.04

giovanni colacicchi (anagni 1900–florence 1992) The Lighthouse at Monille Point (Southern Twilight) 1935 oil on canvasFlorence, private collection

Sentimental complications prompted Colacicchi to leave Florence for South Africa in 1935. The house in Cape Town where he took up residence was close to a lighthouse whose looming bulk, silently looking out to the distant horizon, held an immense attraction for him. He shipped the painting to Italy for the 1936 Biennale.

7.01

libero andreotti (pescia 1875–florence 1933)Orpheus Singing1931bronze Genoa, Galleria d’Arte Moderna

In July 1930, architect Marcello Piacentini asked Andreotti to produce a sculptural group for the mausoleum that he was building for the Ottolenghi family in Acqui Terme. The choice of the Orpheus theme—symbolising spiritual brotherhood in the name of music—reminds us of Andreotti’s eagerness to cultivate dialogue among the arts.

7.02

guido peyron (florence 1898–1960) Friends in the Studio c. 1928 oil on panelFlorence, Galleria d’arte moderna di Palazzo Pitti

Emulating friends’ habit of meeting in artists’ studios in France, this work recalls the cultural climate of Florence in the late 1920s. Music occupies centre stage, with Luigi Dallapiccola and Odoardo Zappulli playing the cello, flanked by writer Arturo Loria with glasses, Count Walfredo della Gherardesca seen in profile, and four painters: Vieri Freccia with a hat, Felice Carena with a beard, Gianni Vagnetti in the upper right-hand corner, and Peyron himself with a dog.

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7.07

felice carena (cumiana 1879–venice 1966) The Terrace 1929 oil on plywoodUdine, Galleria d’arte moderna Carena was appointed to the chair of painting at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence in 1924, going on to become the institute’s director. Thanks to the collections of Fabbri and Loeser, interest in Cézanne was unflagging in the city, even among the young artists who gravitated around Solaria and among the Novecento Toscano group, which Carena was to join in his later years.

7.08

guido peyron (florence 1898–1960) Conversations 1930 oil on panelCavallini Sgarbi Collection

Painted in 1930 during the artist’s second stay in Paris, this still life shows a kindred spirit to the work of such Italiens de Paris as de Pisis, echoing the evocative mood of Metaphysical painting. The artist’s choice of an incongruous title and a tendency to question reality reveal a kinship with the world of Montale.

7.05

alberto magnelli (florence 1888–meudon 1971) The Great Sailing Ship (The Black Sailing Ship) 1928 oil on canvasFlorence, Galleria d’arte moderna di Palazzo Pitti Magnelli, who had been exposed to the avant-garde in Paris (Apollinaire and Picasso, along with de Chirico, Léger and Matisse), responded to the call of the Italian figurative tradition in the late 1920s. This is clearly visible in the Sailing Ships that were a prominent feature, motionless andgeometrical in their bare seascapes and pure colours, in so many of the pictures he painted in 1928–9.

7.06

ram (ruggero alfredo michahelles; florence 1898–1976) The Island of Kythira I 1933 oil on plywoodAmelia Michahelles

Born into a prosperous cosmopolitan family, Ram grew up (like his elder brother Ernest, who took the pseudonym of Thayaht, and his sister Cristina) in a cultured environment that was informed of all the latest developments. In France he frequented the studios of Maurice Denis, Otton Friesz and Alexandre Jacovleff, and got to know the Italiens de Paris, especially de Chirico, who was to stay with him often in Florence.

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7.11

antonio maraini (rome 1886–florence 1963) Memory of Athens (Ionic, Doric, Corinthian) 1932 pentelic marbleFlorence, Banca CR Firenze

The sculpture was carved out of a block of marble imported from Greece after Maraini visited themany sites in the country that embody the spirit of Western civilisation. The dual title hints at the different aspects of the work: its style, expressed in its allusion to the three orders of architecture, and its human and aesthetic side, with Greece as a symbol and model of beauty and freedom.

7.12

giovanni colacicchi (anagni 1900–florence 1992)Summer’s End 1932 oil on canvasFlorence, Galleria d’arte moderna

Sentimental complications prompted Colacicchi to leave Florence for South Africa in 1935. The house in Cape Town where he took up residence was close to a lighthouse whose looming bulk, silently looking out to the distant horizon, held an immense attraction for him. He shipped the painting to Italy for the 1936 Biennale.

7.09

onofrio martinelli (mola di bari 1900–florence 1966) Ulalume 1936 oil on canvasNicola Martinelli Collection

Martinelli painted Ulalume, inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s poem on lost love, in his friend GiovanniColacicchi’s studio while Colacicchi himself was in South Africa. Martinelli composed the picture with the flowers, seaweed and roots that Colacicchi sent to Florence for him and for the painter Flavia Arlotta, who was to become Colacicchi’s wife.

7.10

giovanni colacicchi (anagni 1900–florence 1992) Still life of the Protea 1937 oil on canvasCavallini Sgarbi Collection

Painted in late 1937 after his return from South Africa, Still life of the Protea, with the exotic flowerfeatured in this picture, echoes the theme of the work that Martinelli and Flavia Arlotta had produced the year before, almost appearing to be in dialogue with it. The objects in these paintings should be seen in a poetic and symbolic rather than a naturalistic light.

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7.15

thayaht (ernesto michahelles; florence 1893–marina di pietrasanta 1959)The Dive 1932 antiqued plaster, metal base (reconstructed to the artist’s original drawings)Rovereto, MART - Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Deposito CLM Seeber Collection

This sculpture was shown at the Venice Biennale shortly after its completion in 1932, and in 1936 it was chosen as one of the works to be presented at the 11th Olympic Games in Berlin. When it was rejected on the grounds that it was too large, the artist offered to make a smaller version.

7.16

baccio maria bacci (florence 1888–1974)Sketches for “Volo di notte” by Luigi Dallapiccola1940tempera and pencil on cardScene I Last SceneFirenze, Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino - Fondazione, Archivio Storico

In his sketches for the opera Volo di notte, produced for the Maggio Musicale festival in 1940, Bacci creates a scene that manages to merge poetry with technology to illustrate the modern odyssey of the pilot Fabién, assisted in no small measure by the music of his friend Luigi Dallapiccola and his interpretation of Saint’Exupéry’s tale.

7.13

onofrio martinelli (mola di bari 1900–florence 1966) Composition with Nudes 1938 oil on canvasPuglia Promozione Agenzia Regionale del Turismo

Painted in Florence in 1938, this canvas marks the high point in Martinelli’s and Colacicchi’s communion of ideas, shown by their common work on the theme of figure composition. Their friendship had turned into a fully-fledged partnership. The painting combines echoes of classical sculpture with allusions to the work of Michelangelo, Piero della Francesca and Signorelli.

7.14

ram (ruggero alfredo michahelles; florence 1898–1976) Industry 1931 oil on panelPrivate collection

Ram produced a group of works between 1927 and 1931, in which he associates the theme of modernity with suspended atmospherics. He and his brother Thayaht joined the Tuscan Futurist Group in 1931. An image like Industry effectively embodies the features of Second Futurism, which sought to translate the symbols of modern life into plastic form.

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7.19

ottone roSai (florence 1895–ivrea 1957) Landscape 1933 oil on canvasPrivate collection

This picture is emblematic of one of the richest and most intense periods of Rosai’s full maturity. The relationship between the façades of the houses, the dark windows like holes, and the luminous composition culminates in the mass of trees in the background, their peaks touched by the light of the sun.

7.20

ottone roSai (florence 1895–ivrea 1957)Interior with Figures (Tavern) 1935 oil on plywoodPrato, Farsettiarte

This work’s considerable size and its date, 1935, have prompted critics to suggest that the tavern was one of the subjects chosen to decorate the buffet in Florence station, for which Rosai also produced two large-scale landscapes in the same year (and which are still in place). The picture features the kind of figures and themes which the artist favoured in those years.

7.17

ardengo Soffici (rignano sull’arno 1879–forte dei marmi 1964)The Procession 1933 detached fresco on canvas glued onto plywoodFlorence, Galleria d’arte moderna di Palazzo Pitti

With the assistance of his young friend Quinto Martini, Soffici devoted his energy from 1932 to 1934 to producing “easel frescoes”, some of which were subsequently transferred onto panels: a determined and deliberate return to a traditional Italian, and more specifically Tuscan, technique.

7.18

romano romanelli (florence 1882–1968) Portrait of Ardengo Soffici 1929 bronzeMilan, Museo del Novecento

Romanelli produced a series of portraits of his intellectual and artist friends—Giovanni Papini, Domenico Giuliotti and Ardengo Soffici—in an “Etrusco-Roman” style in the late 1920s. He devised an energetic and constructive interpretation of Etruscan art, adopting a plain and simple artistic vocabulary in keeping with Italian tradition.

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7.23

lorenZo viani (viareggio 1882–ostia 1936)Corpus Domini Procession in Fregionaja 1934 mixed technique (oil, charcoal, carbon paper, tincture of iodine) on marine plywoodPrivate collection

Viani went into voluntary exile in the lunatic asylum in Nozzano in October 1933, prompted both by his asthma and by his political troubles. He often painted the inmates, and a selection of his works, including this Procession—the one occasion each year on which the inmates were allowed out of the clinic—were shown at a one-man exhibition held in Viareggio in the summer of 1934.

7.21

giacomo manZù (giacomo manzoni; bergamo 1908–rome 1991)David 1938 bronzeRome, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna

A similar sentiment appears to have inspired both the four Davids that Manzù produced between 1936 and 1938 and the pages that Piero Bargellini devoted to the subject, demolishing the heroic image favoured during the Renaissance. The lean and melancholy young man, shown in a pose that is anything but victorious, is the protagonist of a new vision of humanity to which the tragedy of war was soon to lend a poignant relevancy.

7.22

lorenZo viani (viareggio 1882–ostia 1936) Oxen, Marble and Carts 1932 oil on plywoodViareggio, Courtesy Società di Belle Arti

Shown at the 1932 Biennale, this is one of Viani’s later works, after his anarchistic ideals collapsed and he was increasingly isolated due to his uneasy relationship with Fascism. He was to return to a combination of the themes of the dockyard and of labour (represented by the oxcart—or mambrucche in Viareggio dialect—laden with marble blocks) in his panels for Viareggio station.

Si sulis, viverra? Vali, Catus orentiliena, sa consules ne publis ia ati sendeps, Cateriam inprehenatis caellem hos intia dis tuam tam ut face nestrac igna, maxim hoc tusquidemus, imo et Catquam est? P. Us senducitum, quam me deessimum aur. Si ta ex nest vivehebatere nertea re, quam ina nonsus, nondam manum factod diussus fectum seniqua mentem orum supplic aelartere dercesis adhusciis er inclus; nonsisuloc remod auror hos C. Vivatudes erit nos, ne optis Multoraecret Catque hebemus abem optia quam ut veremura nonsuntem nimmove, dit ocupios, C. Urbite alissimpost L. Serri-timmo tebatio rtimus, nonc tes virisqu amquem vatio uteatus. Mulegernium publiss iliurev iviribe ssincus volus etinatqua dertuam inprist? Econsulii pribefa ceruntimo consus convemquit Cupior quid atumeri butem.Ignare is perum publin vituus? int.Solin tus essum aucto adhuit, quondum dium pote con-sust ionsultuus fuit di seremurnu cone con se nonditam mo idem itua cont? Tatius, omnihillerei is, octandiis. Sermius maximili, moena, norum nonsil hictemuspio, sente vius; nostercerfex seropop ublicae quoniquem, notisquid dii probsenatus se in tam publius, se con tri coerisq uodicat, obus fitabus, videtor tidetima, factorte, nos ficaed caturemque inati iae intem is imust cupio te hilicaet, orum niquons ignaribuntis sa num deris cuperfi caudenihilis Catiusa vene iusa

Si SuliS, viverra?timeline

28 October 1922: March on Rome. Fascist Party militants led by Mussolini march on the capital, demanding that the king hand political leadership of the country over to them. This year marks Year One in the “Fascist Era” calendar, written with Roman numerals.

10 June 1934: The Italian national football team wins the first World Cup in Rome.

3 October 1935: Italy attacks the Ethiopian Empire without declaring war.

18 November 1935: The League of Nations imposes economic sanctions on Italy in response to the attack. The regime launches an economic policy based on self-sufficiency.

9 May 1936: Proclamation of the Empire following the conquest of Ethiopia. Birth of Italian East Africa (A.O.I).

July 1936: Outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. Germany and Italy sends troops in support of General Francisco Franco.

1–16 August 1936: Berlin Olympics.

19 July 1937: Entartete Kunst exhibition opens in Munich.

12 March 1938: Nazi Germany annexes Austria with the so-called Anschluss.

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9 May 1938: Hitler and Mussolini visit Florence.

19 June 1938: The Italian national football team wins the second World Cup in Paris.

14 July–17 November 1938: Racial Laws introduced.

1 April 1939: General Franco wins the Spanish Civil War and establishes a dictatorship.

1 September 1939: Germany invades Poland, leading to the outbreak of World War II.

27 April 1940: The Exhibition of Tuscan 16th Century Art opens in the newly restored Palazzo Strozzi.

10 June 1940: Italy joins the war on Germany’s side against France and Britain.

28 October 1940: Italy invades Greece. Hitler pays a second visit to Florence in the company of Mussolini.

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abStract art is based on a simplification and stylization of form, doing away with realistic portrayal and highlighting what the painting communicates in terms of sensations. Art sheds its task of depicting reality (a job taken over by photography, the cinema and the press), choosing instead to depict a psychological state, whereby all reference to common perception and to the material world is eliminated. Relieved of the duty to “depict” or “narrate”, art becomes a vehicle for pure expression.

aeropainting. A movement that developed in the context of Second Futurism in the 1920s but its platform, drafted in 1929, was only published in 1931. Aeropainting sought to capture the soul of mechanics and modernity by communicating the dynamic sensation of flight.

chiariSmo. A term coined by critic Leonardo Borgese in 1935 to refer to a set of young Lombard artists famed for their light colours and soft brushstrokes imbued with light—an effect they achieved by

painting on a white ground that was still damp.

degenerate art. Modern art movements reflecting values considered contrary to the precepts of the regime were branded entartete Kunst, or “degenerate art”, in Nazi Germany. Entartete Kunst was the title of an exhibition of avant-garde works confiscated from German museums and banned by the regime, held in Munich in 1937.

eXpreSSioniSm. Expressionist movements did not all stem from a single branch but from numerous hotbeds for the most part throughout northern Europe. They shared the need to use painting to express a state of mind rather than to depict visible objects, in opposition to the painting of the Impressionists, who were rarely emotionally involved with their subject matter.

fauviSm. From the French word fauves meaning wild beasts, and initially used with disparaging intent, the name applies to a

group of artists who held a first collective showing of their work in Paris in 1905. The first person to use the term was critic Louis Vauxcelles, who called the room their work was displayed in a “cage aux fauves”, or “wild beasts’ cage”, on account of their “wildly” expressive use of pure colours.

futuriSm began as a literary movement whose precepts were drafted by poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in 1909. Futurists sought to imbue their work with the strength of dynamic movement and to portray speed and the clash of forces. Second Futurism (from 1929 to 1938) forged ties with the Fascist regime.

magical realiSm. The definition, coined by Franz Roh in 1925, describes the European painting trends between World War I and the 1930s that opted for a realism capable, by means of choice of theme and accuracy of portrayal, of suggesting that things had a second life, transcending their immediately visible aspect. Objects are portrayed with photographic naturalism, but the addition of ironic elements causes them to convey a sense of unreality, filling the humdrum of daily life with a sense of mystery.

metaphySical art. Guillaume Apollinaire, in 1913, was the first person to call Giorgio de Chirico’s paintings “metaphysical”. The artist’s aim

was not to paint what he saw but to reveal what cannot be seen. Metaphysical art does not show things as they seem, it unveils their meaning. This conceptual revolution opened the doors of painting to personal memory and to images welling up from deep inside the mind.

novecentiSm. A group founded by seven artists including Sironi and Funi in Milan in 1922. The artists, who shared a longing for a “return to order” after the experiments of the avant-garde movements, held their first exhibition—inspired and organised by Margherita Sarfatti, who was very closely acquainted with Mussolini—at the Galleria Pesaro in 1923.

SurrealiSm. A term coined by poet Guillaume Apollinaire in 1917 to describe the ballet Parade and subsequently used with a different meaning by writer André Breton in 1924. Surrealism saw itself as both a philosophy and a lifestyle, its central precept being the acceptance of every aspect of the irrational. Its first exhibition was held at the Gallerie Pierre in Paris in 1925.

valori plaStici. International culture saw this magazine, first published under Editor-in-Chief Mario Broglio, in two editions—Italian and French—in Rome in November 1918, as a debate on avant-garde movements.

art movementS

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avanguardiSta: Under Fascism, this was the name given to boys aged 14 to 18 (17 after 1943) who were enrolled in the youth organisation, called the Opera Nazionale Balilla (National Balilla Organisation) until 1937, when it was absorbed by the Gioventù Italiana del Littorio (Italian Fascist Youth).

ambaradan: Amba Aradam is a massif in Ethiopia near which the Italians and Abyssinians fought a battle in 1936. Some of the local tribes kept changing sides (allied at times with the Italians, at others with the Abyssinians). When the Italians returned home, they began to call chaotic situations “a replay of Amba Aradam”, which soon became “what an Amba Aradam!” The two words later merged into one.

balilla: Nickname of the boy who sparked off the rebellion that hounded the Austrians out of Genoa in 1746. The Fascist regime took the name of this exemplary patriot for its Opera Nazionale Balilla (National Balilla Organisation), a youth

organisation for boys aged 8 to 14 founded in 1926. On turning 11, you graduated to the rank of Balilla moschettiere (Balilla musketeer).

he who heSitateS iS loSt: Mussolini, Genoa, 14 May 1938.

take up horSe-riding inStead: remark made to people considered incapable of performing a given task. In 1931, Fascist hierarch Achille Starace showed up an hour late for a medical conference. His excuse to the furious medics was that he couldn’t do without his daily horse ride; in fact he even urged his audience to adopt a less intellectual and more “Fascist” life style.

the plough may make the furrow, but the Sword defendS it!: Mussolini, from his inaugural address to mark the founding of the Province of Littoria (now Latina) on 18 December 1934.

eJa, eJa, alalà!: War cry coined by Gabriele D’Annunzio in 1918 as an alternative to

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the foreign-sounding “hip, hip, hurrah!” It was subsequently adopted by Fascism.

gioventù italiana del littorio (g.i.l.) [italian faSciSt youth]: Young Fascist organisation formed on 29 October 1937 to boost young Italians’ spiritual, military and sports training in accordance with the Fascist regime’s ideological principles. It absorbed the National Balilla Organisation.

figlio e figlia della lupa [Son and daughter of the She-wolf]: After 1933, anyone starting elementary school automatically became a member of this organisation for children aged 6 to 7. The boys’ uniforms, designed by painter Mario Pompei, consisted of a black woollen fez, a black shirt with a white holster belt that held the trouser braces, and grey-green trousers.

giovane italiana [young italian woman]: Young Fascist girls aged 14 to 18, whose uniform consisted of a white blouse and black skirt.

libro e moSchetto / faSciSta perfetto [book and muSket / perfect faSciSt]: Coined by Mussolini.

marciare per non marcire [march, and you won’t rot]: Possibly coined by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti during World War I, it was later revived by the Fasci di Combattimento [Italian Combatant Leagues.

min.cul.pop.: Ministry of Popular Culture, set up on 22 May 1937 to supervise and organise Fascist propaganda.

me ne frego [i couldn’t give a damn]: Attributed to Gabriele D’Annunzio and used during World War I, it comes from the words that a wounded soldier had written on his bandages as a mark of his sacrifice for the mother country. It was revived by Fascism.

noi tireremo dritto [we Shall forge ahead]: Mussolini, Roma, Palazzo Venezia, 8 September 1935. orbace: Dark woollen cloth (put through the fulling mill, a process that turned it into rainproof felt) used for the uniforms of the “Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale” [“Volunteer Militia for National Security”] (the so-called “Black Shirts”) and of the youth organisations. Its use became so widespread during the Fascist self-sufficiency drive that, even taken out of context, the term itself now conjures up the flavour of an era and an ideology.

piccola italiana [little italian]: Young Fascist girls aged 9 to 13.

perfidiouS albion: A nickname for England dating back to the 17th century and revived by Mussolini.

eXpreSSionS of the 1930S

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popolo dai cinQue paSti [five-meal-a-day nation]: Refers to the British. Mussolini used the expression for the first time on 9 October 1919.

faSciSt Saturday: Established by Mussolini in 1935, before which date Saturday had been a full working day. Under the new law, work stopped at 1 o’clock and the afternoon was given over to paramilitary activities and gymnastics.

tiSSue paper: The Min.Cul.Pop [see above] had to check all published work, issuing “printing orders” which were typewritten on flimsy ‘onionskin’ tissue paper.

vincere, e vinceremo [we muSt win! and we will win!] Mussolini, declaring war on 10 June 1940.

Check our website www.palazzostrozzi.org/expressions to find out how to send in your figure of speech, phrase or word, accompanied by an explanation. The most interesting entries will be added to the panel in the exhibition and to the website with the sender’s name, of course!

TextsLudovica Sebregondi

Editorial coordinationLudovica SebregondiElena Bottinelli

TranslationsStephen Tobin

Graphic DesignRovaiWeber Design

This publication brings together the explanatory texts of the exhibitionThe Thirties The Arts in Italy Beyond FascismFlorence, Palazzo Strozzi22 September 201227 January 2013curated by Antonello Negri with Silvia Bignami, Paolo Rusconi, Giorgio Zanchetti and SusannaRagionieri for the section on Florence

Under the High Patronage of the President of the Italian RepublicWith the patronage ofMinistero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali

Promoted and organised byFondazione Palazzo StrozziMinistero per i Beni e le Attività CulturaliSoprintendenza PSAE e per il Polo Museale della città di FirenzewithComune di FirenzeProvincia di FirenzeCamera di Commercio di Firenze

Associazione Partners Palazzo StrozziandRegione Toscana

Main SponsorBanca CR Firenze

Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi - Piazza Strozzi, 50123 Firenzewww.PalazzoStrozzi.org