Una Dolce Vita?
Dal Liberty al design italiano. 1900-1940
curated by Guy Cogeval and Beatrice Avanzi
with Irene de Guttry, Maria Paola Maino
Pure joie de vivre triumphs in the decorative arts in early 20th century Italy, whether we are talking about Eugenio Quarti's sophisticated furniture with mother-of-pearl inlay, Barovier's polychrome murrhine vases, Fortunato Depero's fanciful toy theatres, Marcello Piacentini's astonishing bright red chairs, or Franco Albini's elegantly ironic creations. This "carefree" mood appears to us today to be glaringly inconsistent and in stark contrast with the historical context in which it was unfolding, marked by one of the most tragic moments in our country's recent history. This prompts our critical conscience once again to start asking questions regarding an issue which has been widely debated but which is still highly controversial, namely the question of art, and more specifically of freedom of artistic expression, under a dictatorial regime. In the Ventennio, the twenty years of Fascist rule in Italy, the decorative arts were the only area in which genuine, true free will survived. Starting with the Art Nouveau era, known as Liberty in Italy, the decorative arts became an astonishing crucible of creativity, a workshop whose experimental approach was unparalleled in the whole of the 20th century. The shapes of the future were born in this era.
Published to tie with the splendid exhibition that has come to Rome from the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, this volume contains essays by Guy Cogeval (Italy 1900–40, Hurtling Carefree Towards the Abyss), Emilio Gentile (The History of Italy Between 1900 and 1940), Irene de Guttry and Maria Paola Maino (The Extraordinary Adventures of the Decorative Arts in Italy), Beatrice Avanzi ("Art May Be the Only Spell Granted to Man". Italian Painting 1900–40), Marino Barovier (Glass in Murano Between the Two World Wars), Laura Falconi (Gio Ponti: From a Return to the Classical, to the Birth of Modern Design), Giampiero Bosoni (For a "Prophecy" of Design 1919–40. The Italian Path to Modernity in the Design of Useful Objects) and Guy Cogeval and Beatrice Avanzi (A Utopia To Inhabit the World. An Interview with Alessandro Mendini and Francesco Mendini). The volume also contains a timeline (by Beatrice Avanzi and Gabriella Tarquini), biographies of the artists (by Simona Pandolfi and Rosalba Cilione), a catalogue of the works on display, an essential bibliography and an analytical index.
Skira Editore
22 x 28. cm
252 pages
216 colour plates, paperback
€ 39.00