''Corrente di Vita'' was a biweekly

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

culture magazine published between 1938 and 1940.

The Corrente Magazine

In 1938 artist Ernesto Treccani founded the magazine ''Vita Giovanile'' with the financial backing of his father, Senator

Giovanni Treccani Giovanni Treccani (; 3 January 1877 – 6 July 1961) was an Italian textile industrialist, publisher and cultural patron. He sponsored the Giovanni Treccani Institute, established 18 February 1925 to publish the ''Enciclopedia Italiana'' (curr ...

. Initially a monthly and then a biweekly publication, the magazine later changed its name to ''Corrente di Vita Giovanile'' and finally ''Corrente''. Treccani envisioned the magazine as an independent venture free from the directives of the GUF (University Fascist Group). ''Corrente'' quickly became a point of reference for Italian

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...

culture in the late 1930s, putting forward a democratic alternative to the official guidelines of the Ministry of Popular Culture, and strongly criticizing more regime-aligned art movements such as the

Novecento Italiano Novecento Italiano () was an Italian artistic movement founded in Milan in 1922 to create an art based on the rhetoric of the fascism of Benito Mussolini, Mussolini. History Novecento Italiano was founded by Anselmo Bucci (1887–1955), Leonardo ...

and late

Futurism Futurism ( ) was an Art movement, artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such as the ...

. On June 10, 1940, the

Fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

regime successfully closed ''Corrente'' when Italy entered

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. After the closure of the magazine, the ''Corrente'' editorial activities continued until 1943 with the publication of ''Edizioni di Corrente'' – a collection of books that included '' I lirici greci'' by

Salvatore Quasimodo Salvatore Quasimodo (; 20 August 1901 – 14 June 1968) was an Italian poet and translator, awarded the 1959 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own times" ...

, ''I lirici spagnoli'' by Carlo Bo, ''Frontiera'' by Vittorio Sereni, ''Occhio quadrato'' by

Alberto Lattuada Mario Alberto Lattuada (; 13 November 1914 – 3 July 2005) was an Italian film director. Career Lattuada was born in Vaprio d'Adda, the son of composer Felice Lattuada. He was initially interested in literature, becoming, while still a studen ...

– and with exhibitions at the Bottega di Corrente gallery, in

Via della Spiga Via della Spiga (; literally "Alley of the Ear") is one of the Italian city of Milan's top shopping streets, forming the north-east boundary of the luxurious ''Quadrilatero della Moda'' (literally, "fashion quadrilateral"), along with Via Monte Na ...

9, around which gravitated cultural and political figures in opposition to the government.

The Corrente Movement

The Corrente Movement covered different fields and disciplines – film, theater, literature, poetry and visual arts – bringing together some of the brightest intellectual forces of the time, including

Luciano Anceschi Luciano Anceschi (; February 20, 1911 in Milan – May 2, 1995 in Bologna) was an Italian literary critic and essayist. A pupil of Antonio Banfi, with whom he graduated in philosophy in 1933, he taught aesthetics at the Faculty of Humanities ...

Giulio Carlo Argan Giulio Carlo Argan (17 May 1909 – 12 November 1992) was an Italian art historian, critic and politician. Biography Argan was born in Turin and studied in the University of Turin, graduating in 1931. In 1928 he entered the National Fascist Part ...

Antonio Banfi Antonio Banfi (Vimercate, 30 September 1886 – Milano, 22 July 1957) was an Italian philosopher and Senate of the Republic (Italy), senator. He is also noted for founding the Italian philosophical school called critical rationalism. Although i ...

, Piero Bigongiari,

Luigi Comencini Luigi Comencini (; 8 June 1916 – 6 April 2007) was an Italian film director. Together with Dino Risi, Ettore Scola, and Mario Monicelli, he was considered among the masters of the "commedia all'italiana" genre. His daughters Cristina Comencin ...

Raffaele De Grada Raffaele De Grada (2 March 1885 – 10 April 1957) was an Italian painter. Biography De Grada was born in Milan, Italy. Initially trained by his father, a decorator, in Argentina and then from 1899 in Zürich, he attended the academies of Dresd ...

, Dino Del Bo, Giansiro Ferrata,

Carlo Emilio Gadda Carlo Emilio Gadda (; 14 November 1893 – 21 May 1973) was an Italian writer and poet. He belongs to the tradition of the language innovators, writers who played with the somewhat stiff standard pre-war Italian language, and added elements of di ...

Alfonso Gatto Alfonso Gatto (17 July 1909 – 8 March 1976) was an Italian poet and writer. Along with Giuseppe Ungaretti he is one of the foremost Italian poets of the 20th century and a major exponent of hermetic poetry. Biography Gatto studied at the ...

Beniamino Joppolo Beniamino Joppolo (31 July 1906 – 2 October 1963) was an Italian writer, painter and playwright. Life and career Born in Patti, Sicily, the son of a liceo classico literature professor, Joppolo studied political and social sciences at the ...

Eugenio Montale Eugenio Montale (; 12 October 1896 – 12 September 1981) was an Italian poet, prose writer, editor and translator. In 1975, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for 'for his distinctive poetry which, with great artistic sensitivity, has ...

Duilio Morosini Duilio is a given name. Notable people with the name include: * Duilio Arigoni, Swiss chemist * Duilio Benítez, Paraguayan footballer * Duilio Beretta Duilio Beretta Avalos (; born February 25, 1992) is a Peruvian professional tennis player. ...

Enzo Paci Enzo is an Italian given name derivative of the German name Heinz. It can be used also as the short form for Lorenzo, Vincenzo, Innocenzo, or Fiorenzo. It is most common in the Romance-speaking world, particularly in Italy and Latin America. ...

Vasco Pratolini Vasco Pratolini (19 October 1913 – 12 January 1991) was an Italian writer of the 20th century. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature three times. Biography Born in Florence, Pratolini worked at various jobs before entering the l ...

, Luigi Rognoni,

Umberto Saba Umberto Saba (9 March 1883 – 25 August 1957) was an Italian poet and novelist, born Umberto Poli in the cosmopolitan Mediterranean port of Trieste when it was the fourth largest city of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Poli assumed the pen name "S ...

, Vittorio Sereni,

Giancarlo Vigorelli Giancarlo is an Italian given name meaning "John Charles". It is one of the most common masculine given names in Italy and is often short for "Giovanni Carlo". Notable people with the name include: List A * Giancarlo Agazzi (1933–1995), Italia ...

and

Elio Vittorini Elio Vittorini (; 23 July 1908 – 12 February 1966) was an Italian writer and novelist. He was a contemporary of Cesare Pavese and an influential voice in the modernist school of novel writing. His best-known work, in English speaking countries ...

.
The artists associated to Corrente perpetuated an art replete with humane and moral content, in full opposition to the one supported by the fascist regime. They tended decisively towards

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

visual forms, and referenced the ''

Scuola Romana Scuola romana or Scuola di via Cavour was a 20th-century art movement defined by a group of painters within Expressionism and active in Rome between 1928 and 1945, and with a second phase in the mid-1950s. Birth of the movement In November 192 ...

'', as well as European artists such as

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks ...

James Ensor James Sidney Edouard, Baron Ensor (13 April 1860 – 19 November 1949) was a Belgian painter and printmaker, an important influence on expressionism and surrealism who lived in Ostend for most of his life. He was associated with the artistic ...

Chaïm Soutine Chaïm Soutine (; ; ; 13 January 1893 – 9 August 1943) was a French painter of Belarusian-Jewish origin of the School of Paris, who made a major contribution to the Expressionist movement while living and working in Paris. Inspired by clas ...

and

Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

, and movements like Fauves,

Nabis Nabis may refer to: * Nabis of Sparta, reigned 207–192 BCE * Nabis (art), a Parisian post-Impressionist artistic group * ''Nabis'' (bug), a genus of insects * NABIS, National Ballistics Intelligence Service, a British government agency See a ...

and

Die Brücke Die Brücke (The Bridge), also known as Künstlergruppe Brücke or KG Brücke, was a group of German expressionist artists formed in Dresden in 1905. The founding members were Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Karl Schmidt-R ...

. The group organised debates, round-table discussions and exhibitions, bringing in artists like

Renato Birolli Renato Birolli (10 December 1905 – 3 May 1959) was an Italian painter. Biography Birolli was born at Verona to a family of industrial workers. In 1923 he moved to Milan where he formed an avant-gardist group with artists such as Renato Guttuso ...

Giuseppe Migneco Giuseppe Migneco (1908–1997) was an Italian painter of the Novecento Italiano. He often painted scenes of laborers at work in a naïve and expressionist style. Biography Migneco was born in Messina. His father was a train station master and his ...

Bruno Cassinari Bruno Cassinari (29 October 1912 – 26 March 1992) was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked in a style that mixed cubism, cubist and expressionism, expressionist elements. Biography Cassinari was born in Piacenza, a city in Italy’s Emi ...

Renato Guttuso Aldo Renato Guttuso (26 December 1911 – 18 January 1987) was an Italian painter and politician. He is considered to be among the most important Italian artists of the 20th century and is among the key figures of Italian expressionism. His art i ...

Aligi Sassu Aligi Sassu (17 July 1912 – 17 July 2000) was an Italian painter and sculptor. Biography Aligi Sassu was born in Milan, Lombardy, the son of Lina Pedretti (from Parma, Emilia) and Antonio Sassu (from Sassari, Sardinia). His father was one ...

and

Ennio Morlotti Ennio Morlotti (21 September 1910 – 15 December 1992) was an Italian painter of the ''Corrente de Vita'' movement started in Milan as a counterpoint to nationalistic Futurism and the Novecento Italiano movements. His figures show an affinity to t ...

. In doing so, the Corrente Movement became a hub for a generation of intellectuals and artists who wished to establish an intellectual bridge to Europe, and who saw ethics and the role of the artist in society as the key to a substantial renewal in Italian culture.

The Corrente Exhibitions

The first Corrente exhibition was held in March 1939 at the Society for Fine Arts and Permanent Exhibition Museum in Milan. It featured works by

Italo Valenti Italo may refer to: *Italo-, a prefix indicating a relation to Italy or Italians * Italo (given name), given name Film * ''Italo'' (film), a 2014 comedy film *Italo crime, a genre of crime film Music genres *Italo disco *Italo dance *Italo hou ...

, Arnaldo Badodi,

, Sandro Cherchi,

Dino Lanaro Dino Lanaro (1909 - 1998) was an Italian people, Italian painter of the ''Corrente de Vita'' movement started in Milan as a counterpoint to nationalistic Futurism and the Novecento Italiano movements. He often painted bright landscapes with houses. ...

, Alfredo Mantica, Luigi Grosso,

Giacomo Manzù Giacomo Manzoni (22 December 1908 – 17 January 1991), known professionally as Giacomo Manzù, was an Italian sculptor. Biography Manzù was born in Bergamo. His father was a shoemaker and sacristan. Other than a few evening art classes ...

Gabriele Mucchi Gabriele Mucchi (1899 – 2002) was an Italian painter. Biography After graduating in architectural engineering at Bologna University in 1923, Gabriele Mucchi abandoned architecture to devote himself to painting, following in the footsteps of hi ...

, Domenico Cantatore,

Fiorenzo Tomea Fiorenzo Tomea (7 February 1910 – 16 November 1960) was an Italian painter. Biography Tomea was born in Zoppè di Cadore, Italy. He studied at the Cignaroli Academy in Verona, where he met Giacomo Manzù and Renato Birolli, in the period 1 ...

, Genni,

Filippo Tallone Filippo Tallone (28 July 1902 – 11 December 1962) was an Italian sculptor. His work was part of the sculpture event in the art competition at the 1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XIV Olympi ...

and Gastone Panciera. Some “modernist” exponents of the Milanese art scene such as

Carlo Carrà Carlo Carrà (; February 11, 1881 – April 13, 1966) was an Italian painter and a leading figure of the Futurist movement that flourished in Italy during the beginning of the 20th century. In addition to his many paintings, he wrote a number ...

Arturo Tosi Arturo Tosi (25 July 1871 – 3 January 1956) was an Italian painter known best for his Landscape, landscapes. Biography Tosi was born in Busto Arsizio, Italy. He moved to Milan in 1882 and attended the school of nude studies at the Brera Academ ...

, Ugo Bernasconi,

Piero Marussig Pietro Marussig (16 May 1879 – 13 October 1937) was an Italian painter. Biography He was born in Trieste, Italy, and initially took lessons there from Eugenio Scomparini. He worked in Trieste from 1898 until 1918, and in Milan from 1919 un ...

Cesare Monti Cesare Monti (5 May 1593 – 16 August 1650) was an Italian Cardinal who served as Latin Patriarch of Antioch and Archbishop of Milan. Early life Cesare Monti was born on 5 May 1593 in Milan to the patrician family of Princivalle Monti an ...

Arturo Martini Arturo Martini (1889–1947) was a leading Italian sculptor between World War I and II. He moved between a very vigorous (almost ancient Roman) classicism and modernism. He was associated with public sculpture in fascist Italy, but later renoun ...

Francesco Messina Francesco Messina (15 December 1900 – 13 September 1995) was an Italian sculptor of the 20th century. Biography and career Francesco Messina was born at Linguaglossa in the Province of Catania in a very poor family. Growing up in Genoa, where h ...

and Luigi Bartolini were also invited.
The second Corrente exhibition took place in December 1939. Notable additions to the group were Mario Mafai, Nino Franchina, Luigi Broggini, Piero Prampolini,

Antonio Filippini Antonio Filippini (born 3 July 1973) is an Italian football coach and a former player who played mainly as a defensive midfielder, currently in charge as head coach of Genoa Women of Serie B. He played in several teams with his twin brother, E ...

, Mauro Reggiani,

Giuseppe Santomaso Giuseppe "Bepi" Santomaso (26 September 1907 – 23 May 1990) was an Italian painter and educator. Santomaso was an important figure in 20th-century Italian painting, and he taught art at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia for 20 years. Ear ...

Orfeo Tamburi Orfeo Tamburi (1910–1994) was an Italians, Italian painter and scenic designer. Biography He was born in Jesi, and graduated from the local Istituto Tecnico in 1926. He was awarded in 1928 a stipend to study in Rome, at the Accademia di Belle ...

Pericle Fazzini Pericle Fazzini (4 May 1913 – 4 December 1987) was an Italian painter and sculptor. His large work, ''La Resurrezione'', is installed in the Aula Paolo VI in the Vatican City in Rome. Life Fazzini was born on 4 May 1913 at Grottammare, ...

Mirko Basaldella Mirko Basaldella (28 September 1910 – 24 November 1969) was an Italian sculptor and painter. Early life and education Mirko was born in Udine, Italy on September 28, 1910, the second of three brothers (Dino was the eldest, and Afro the younges ...

Afro Basaldella Afro Libio Basaldella (March 4, 1912 – July 24, 1976) was one of the most important Italian painter in the post-World War II period. He began as a member of the Scuola Romana, and then embracing nformal bstraction worked and had great ...

, Luigi Montanarini, Domenico Caputi,

Fausto Pirandello Fausto Calogero Pirandello (17 June 1899 – 30 November 1975) was an Italian painter belonging to the modern movement of the ''Scuola romana (Roman School)''. He was the son of Nobel laureate Luigi Pirandello. Biography After a short experience ...

.Z. Birolli, G. Bruno, P. Rusconi, Renato Birolli. Anni trenta Milano e Roma, Archivio di Scuola romana, Roma 1997 Aldo Salvadori,

Piero Martina Piero is an Italian given name. Notable people with the name include: *Piero Angela (1928–2022), Italian television host * Piero Barucci (born 1933), Italian academic and politician *Piero Cassano (born 1948), Italian keyboardist, singer and comp ...

, Sandro Cherchi and

Lucio Fontana Lucio Fontana (; 19 February 1899 – 7 September 1968) was an Italian Argentines, Argentine-Italian painter, sculptor, and theorist. He is known as the founder of Spatialism and exponent of Abstract art, abstract painting as the f ...

Notes

Bibliography

Ruth Ben-Ghiat Ruth Ben-Ghiat (born April 17, 1960) is an American history professor and political commentator. She is a scholar on fascism and authoritarian leaders. Ben-Ghiat is a professor of history and Italian studies at New York University. Biography ...

, ''Fascist Modernities: Italy, 1922–1945'',

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...

, Berkeley, (2000) * Marla Susan Stone, ''The Patron State: Art and Politics in Fascist Italy'',

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...

, New Jersey, (1998) * Roderick Conway Morris
"Italy's Radical Return to Order"
in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', 26 December 1998 * Raffaele De Grada, ''Il movimento di Corrente'', Edizioni del Milione, Milan, 1952 *

Enrico Crispolti Enrico Crispolti (18 April 1933 – 8 December 2018) was an Italian art critic, curator and art historian. From 1984 to 2005, he was professor of history of contemporary art at the Università degli Studi di Siena, and director of the school of s ...

, Vittorio Fagone, Cesare Ruju Brandi, ''Corrente: cultura e società 1938–1942: omaggio a Edoardo Persico 1900–1936'', Centro di Iniziativa Culturale del Mezzogiorno, Naples, 1979 * Elena Pontiggia, ''Il movimento di Corrente'', Abscondita, Milan, 2012 * Giovannella Desideri, ''Antologia della rivista "Corrente", with contributions by Ernesto Treccani, Giansiro Ferrata and Alberto Lattuada'', Guida, Naples, 1979 * Ernesto Treccani, ''Arte per amore. Scritti e pagine di diario'', Feltrinelli, Milan, 1978 * Duilio Morosini, ''L’arte degli anni difficili'', Editori Riuniti, Rome, 1985 * Mario De Micheli, Raffaele De Grada, ''Corrente: il movimento di arte e cultura'', Milan, 1985 * Gabriele Mucchi, ''Le occasioni perdute: memorie 1899–1993'', L'Archivolto, Milan, 1994 * Renato Guttuso, ''Mestiere di pittore'', De Donato editore, Bari, 1972 * Zeno Birolli, Gianfranco Bruno, Annamaria Brizio, Paolo Rusconi, ''Renato Birolli. Anni trenta Milano e Roma'', Archivio di Scuola Romana, Rome, 1997 * Raffaele De Grada, ''La grande stagione'', Anthelios, Milan, 2001

The Corrente Magazine

The Corrente Movement

The Corrente Exhibitions

See also

Notes

Bibliography

External links