Renato Barilli's polemic against art historians and curators

Renato Barilli, professor emeritus at the University of Bologna, denounces the superficiality of contemporary art criticism and art history. He criticizes curators for focusing on organizational and budgetary issues rather than aesthetic judgments. Barilli also laments that art historians fail to re-examine canonical works, citing the case of Leonardo da Vinci's 500th death anniversary exhibitions, where his warning that the "Belle Ferronière" is not by Leonardo went unheeded. He points to unresolved questions about Caravaggio's early years in Rome and the neglect of his own interpretation of Giorgio de Chirico as a precursor to postmodernism. Barilli's 1974 book "Tra presenza e assenza" placed de Chirico at the head of postmodernism, but this reading is ignored. He quotes Dante: "Time is no gentleman," arguing that without new evidence, past glories fade. The article appears in Artribune Magazine #52.