Novecento Italiano () was an Italian

artistic movement An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific art philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a specific period of time, (usually a few months, years or decades) or, at least, with the heyday of the movement defined ...

founded in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

in 1922 to create an art based on the rhetoric of the

fascism 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 social hie ...

Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his overthrow in 194 ...

History

Novecento Italiano was founded by Anselmo Bucci (1887–1955), Leonardo Dudreville (1885–1975), Achille Funi, Gian Emilio Malerba (1880–1926), Pietro Marussig, Ubaldo Oppi, and Mario Sironi. Motivated by a post-war " call to order", they were brought together by Lino Pesaro, a gallery owner interested in modern art, and Margherita Sarfatti, a writer and art critic who worked on Italian dictator Benito Mussolini's newspaper, '' The People of Italy'' (''

Il Popolo d'Italia ''Il Popolo d'Italia'' (; ) was an Italian newspaper published from 15 November 1914 until 24 July 1943. It was founded by Benito Mussolini as a pro-war newspaper during World War I, and it later became the main newspaper of the Fascist movemen ...

''). Sarfatti was also Mussolini's mistress. The movement was officially launched in 1923 at an exhibition in

, with Mussolini as one of the speakers. The group was represented at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

of 1924 in a gallery of its own, with the exception of Oppi, who exhibited in a separate gallery. Oppi's defection caused him to be ejected from the group, which subsequently split and was reformed. The new Novecento Italiano staged its first group exhibition in Milan in 1926. Several of the artists were

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

veterans; Sarfatti had lost a son in the war. The group wished to take on the Italian establishment and create an art associated with the rhetoric of

. The artists supported the fascist regime and their work became associated with the state propaganda department, although Mussolini reprimanded Sarfatti for using his name and the name of fascism to promote Novecento. The name of the movement (which means 1900s) was a deliberate reference to great periods of Italian art in the past, the Quattrocento and Cinquecento (1400s and 1500s). The group rejected European avant garde art and wished to revive the tradition of large format history painting in the classical manner. It lacked a precise artistic programme and included artists of different styles and temperament, for example, Carrà and

Marini Marini (last name) is a surname of Roman/Italian Catholic origin; closely associated with the last names: Marino and Mariani with the three patronymic forms emerging from the same region at approximately the same time. Migrations branching from Ita ...

. It aimed to promote a renewed yet traditional Italian art. Sironi said, “if we look at the painters of the second half of the 19th century, we find that only the revolutionary were great and that the greatest were the most revolutionary”; the artists of Novecento Italiano “would not imitate the world created by God but would be inspired by it”. Despite official patronage, Novecento art did not always have an easy ride in Fascist Italy. Mussolini was personally uninterested in art and divided official support among various groups so as to keep artists on the side of the regime. Opening the exhibition of Novecento art in 1923 he declared that “it is far from my idea to encourage anything like a state art. Art belongs to the domain of the individual. The state has only one duty: not to undermine art, to provide humane conditions for artists, to encourage them from the artistic and national point of view."Braun, E., ''Mario Sironi and Italian Modernism: Art and Politics under Fascism'', Cambridge University Press, 2000, p.1 The movement was in competition with other pro-Fascist movements, especially

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 ...

and the regionalist Strapaese movement. Novecento Italiano also met outright opposition. Achille Starace, the General Secretary of the Fascist Party, attacked it in the Fascist daily press and there was virulent criticism of its “un-Italian" qualities by artists and critics. In the 1930s, a group of professors and students at the Accademia di Brera established an opposition group to Novecento Italiano. Among them was the director of the academy Aldo Carpi, and students

Afro The afro is a hair style created by combing out natural growth of afro-textured hair, or specifically styled with chemical curling products by individuals with naturally curly or straight hair.Garland, Phyl"Is The Afro On Its Way Out?" '' Ebo ...

, Aldo Badoli, Aldo Bergolli, Renato Birolli,

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 ...

, Cherchi,

Alfredo Chighine Alfredo (, ) is a cognate of the Anglo-Saxon name Alfred and a common Italian, Galician, Portuguese and Spanish language personal name. Given name Artists and musicians * Aldo Sambrell (1931–2010), Spanish actor also known as Alfredo S ...

, Grosso,

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 ...

, Dino Lanaro, Giuseppe Migneco, Mantica, Ennio Morlotti, Aligi Sassu, Ernesto Treccani, Italo Valenti, and Emilio Vedova (and later Giuseppe Ajmone and Ibrahim Kodra), with participation from Trento Longaretti, who was not involved in the foundational discussions because he returned to his hometown

Treviglio Treviglio (; ) is a town and (i.e. municipality) in the province of Bergamo, in Lombardy, Northern Italy. It lies south of the province capital, in the lower territory called . It is also part of the geographic area named , included among the r ...

by train after classes. This movement became known as ''

Corrente The ''courante'', ''corrente'', ''coranto'' and ''corant'' are some of the names given to a family of triple metre dances from the late Renaissance and the Baroque era. In a Baroque dance suite an Italian or French courante is typically pair ...

'', which also published a magazine by that name. By 1939, a famous editorial in the magazine stated the group's opposition to fascism, Novecento Italiano, and Futurism. The unity of the group depended much on Sarfatti and it weakened in her absence from Milan. When she was distanced from Mussolini, in part due to the anti-Semitic ordinances of 1938, the group fell apart and was formally disbanded in 1943.

Artists of the Novecento

Giacomo Balla Giacomo Balla (18 July 1871 – 1 March 1958) was an Italian painter, art teacher and poet best known as a key proponent of Futurism. In his paintings, he depicted light, movement and speed. He was concerned with expressing movement in his works ...

* Bacio Maria Bacci * Anselmo Bucci * Pompeo Borra * Aldo Carpi * Carlo Carrà * Felice Casorati *

Giorgio de Chirico Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico ( ; ; 10 July 1888 – 20 November 1978) was an Italian artist and writer born in Greece. In the years before World War I, he founded the art movement, which profoundly influenced the surrealists. His ...

* Raffaele De Grada *

Fortunato Depero Fortunato Depero (30 March 1892 – 29 November 1960) was an Italian Futurism (art), futurist painter, writer, sculptor, and graphic designer. Biography Although born in Fondo or in the neighboring village of Malosco, according to other sou ...

* Antonio Donghi * Ercole Drei * Leonardo Dudreville * Achille Funi * Virgilio Guidi * Achille Lega * Gian Emilio Malerba * Arturo Martini * Pietro Marussig * Francesco Messina *

Giorgio Morandi Giorgio Morandi (July 20, 1890 – June 18, 1964) was an Italian painter and printmaker widely known for his subtly muted still-life paintings of ceramic vessels, flowers, and landscapes—their quiet, meditative quality reflecting the artist's ...

* Ubaldo Oppi * Renato Paresce * Siro Penagini *

Gio Ponti Giovanni "Gio" Ponti (; 18 November 1891 – 16 September 1979) was an Italian architect, industrial designer, furniture designer, artist, teacher, writer and publisher. During his career, which spanned six decades, Ponti built more than a hu ...

Gino Severini Gino Severini (7 April 1883 – 26 February 1966) was an Italian Painting, painter and a leading member of the Futurism (art), Futurist movement. For much of his life he divided his time between Paris and Rome. He was associated with neo-classici ...

* Mario Sironi *

Mario Tozzi Mario Tozzi (30 October 1895 – 8 September 1979) was an Italian painter. He was awarded the Legion of Honour by the French government. Biography Tozzi studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna in Italy where he met Giorgio Morandi ...

* Francesco Trombadori * Adolfo Wildt

Notes

References

* Braun, E. (Editor): ''Italian Art in the 20th Century'', Prestel-Verlag, Munich, 1989. * Cannistraro, P.V. and Sullivan, B.R.: ''Il Duce’s Other Woman'', Wm. Morrow, New York,1933. * Correnti, C.: ''Cento Opere d'Arte Italiana. Dal Futurismo a Oggi'', Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Roma, 1968. * Della Porta, A.F.: ''Polemica sul “900”'', Risorgimento Artistico Italiano, Milano, 1930. * Formaggio D. et al.: ''Il Novecento Italiano'', 1923 - 1933. Gabriele Mazzotta, Milano, 1983. * Hulten P. and Celant, G. (Editors): ''Arte Italiana, Presenze 1900 - 1945'', Bompiani, Milano, 1989. * Roh, Franz, Juan Manuel Bonet, Miguel Blesa De La Parra, and Martin Chirino. 1997. ''Realismo mágico: Franz Roh y la pintura europea 1917-1936''. Valencia: Ivam, Institut Valencià d'Art Modern. 1997. (Spanish and English) * Sarfatti, M. (Editor): ''Catalog of the Seconda Mostra del Novecento Italiano'', Palazzo della Permanente, Milano, 1929.
Il Novecento Italiano
* Oxford Art Dictionary {{Authority control 1922 establishments in Italy Modern art Italian art movements Neoclassical movements Italian fascism

History

Artists of the Novecento

See also

Notes

References