A modern and sorrowful painting, aflame and resplendent

SERIES: From VIVE to the city. The history of art in Rome in the 15th-20th centuries - Under the aegis of Silvia Ginzburg, professor of the History of Modern Art, Università di Roma Tre
SPEAKER: Barbara Cinelli
DATE: Thursday 23 February, 6 pm
PLACE: Sala del Refettorio

A narration of a ten-year period in Rome, from war in Africa to the immediate post-war period, from enthusiasm to tragedy, from the delirium of an imperialistic Rome to the ruins of a bombed city, seen through the eyes cast on history by two of the most politically active magazines Mino Maccari’s Il Selvaggio and Giuseppe Bottai’s Primato, which transitioned from supporting the regime to condemning it. The artists include well-known names such as Renato Guttuso, Marino Marini and Giacomo Manzù as well as other perhaps less obvious ones such as Lino Bianchi Barriviera, a young Vespignani and Orfeo Tamburi. This talk will highlight the signs of each one’s disenchantment towards the ‘magnificent and progressive’ future promised by Fascism. Despite their seemingly discordant experimentation, did concur on the complexity of that decade and reflects a kaleidoscope of sensitivities that all helped paint a picture of a climate of unique historical circumstances. 

Biography

Barbara Cinelli has taught the History of Contemporary Art in Udine and at the Università Roma Tre. She focuses on the circulation of images as sources for 19th and 20th-century artists. In particular, she has explored the exhibition approaches of public and private galleries, and the visual culture disseminated by illustrated and cultural magazines from the 1950s to the 1980s. She has recently helped advocate a recognition of photographic archives as new tools in a history of the criticism of the contemporary era. In 2016, she curated the Manzù. Dialoghi sulla spiritualità con Lucio Fontana exhibition, Castel Sant’Angelo, Rome and Museo Manzù, Ardea, 2016-2017. 

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