“Art and Fascism” by Vittorio Sgarbi (La nave di Teseo): preview
Vittorio Sgarbi’s new book will be in bookstores on July 2nd
In Art there is no Fascism, in Fascism there is no Art
pp. 112 + 32 color photographic plates, 15 euros
(Preface by Pierluigi Battista)
“Fascism is the opposite of Art, but there is no Art that Fascism can limit. The artist can do whatever the power asks of him, but his idea will be stronger than that power.”
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On 5 July the author will be a guest at the XXV edition of the Milanesiana, conceived and directed by Elisabetta Sgarbi, for an evening entitled “Art and Fascism. There is no Fascism in Art. There is no Art in Fascism”, a lectio by and with Vittorio Sgarbi, included in the “Renaissances and Discoveries” cycle dedicated to the masters of art [Montalto delle Marche, Piazza Umberto I, ore 21].
Vittorio Sgarbi tells the story of art during Fascism like never before: twenty years of great masters and hidden masterpieces that Sgarbi recovers from oblivion, distinguishing the artists from the tragic political parable that accompanied them. A passionate lectio on art which is stronger than any regime, and which has always represented the freest challenge to the drifts of power.
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The book profile: “Art and fascism” by Vittorio Sgarbi (The ship of Theseus)
“Twenty years. Twenty years of the twentieth century, from the March on Rome in October 1922 to the dramatic epilogue of the Second World War in 1945, which have been judged by history as the saddest moment of the century we have behind us. The same years, in art, are the time of ‘Valori Plastici’, of ‘Novecento’, of the group of artists who gathered around Margherita Sarfatti. Such a wealth of experiences, authors, circles that made a great scholar, Elena Pontiggia, say that ‘the thirties are not a decade, they make me think of a century’.”
Vittorio Sgarbi follows the thread of art in a story that begins before Fascism, which grows within twenty years, and after Fascism it is swept away together with the natural condemnation of the regime. Sgarbi distinguishes artistic expression from power and for this reason, alongside de Chirico, Morandi, Martini, he saves Wildt, Guidi, the great era of architecture and graphics, but also Depero, Futurism and beyond from oblivion, up to to the revelation of two formidable sculptors who had never before appeared to the honor of critics, Biagio Poidimani and Domenico Ponzi. “A crossroads of forgetfulness and suppressions made it difficult to reconstruct the state of the art during Fascism. It took decades, but in the end the historical truth prevails. To understand who we were, how we were and what history we belong to.” (From the preface by Pierluigi Battista)
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VITTORIO SGARBI was born in Ferrara. Art critic and historian, full professor of Art History, academician of San Luca, he has curated exhibitions in Italy and abroad. He is mayor of Arpino, deputy mayor of Urbino, president of the MART in Rovereto, president of the Canova Foundation of Possagno, president of Ferrara Arte, commissioner for the arts of Codogno, president of the MAG – Museo dell’Alto Garda and president of the Cavallini Sgarbi Foundation which preserves his works. In 2011 he directed the Italian Pavilion for the 54th Venice Art Biennale.
Among his publications, the series of volumes dedicated to the Treasure of Italy, a history and geography of Italian art (2013-2019), Leonardo. The genius of imperfection (2019), Caravaggio. The Horse’s Point of View (new edition 2021), Here is Caravaggio. From Roberto Longhi to today (2021), Raphael. A Mortal God (2021), Canova and his beautiful beloved (2022), Rome. From the Renaissance to the present day (2022), Discoveries and revelations. Art treasure hunt (2023), Michelangelo. Noise and Fear (2023).
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