Six Books on Modern and Contemporary Italian Art Reviewed
A roundup of six recent publications on Italian modern and contemporary art, each offering critical perspectives on key artists and movements. The books include Fabio Mauri's collected writings 'Scritti in mostra' (il Saggiatore, 2019), a critical monograph on Mario Merz by Giorgio Verzotti (Christian Marinotti, 2018), Iginio De Luca's 'Blitz' (Mincione, 2019) documenting his ephemeral interventions, the exhibition catalogue 'Giorgio de Chirico. Ritorno al Futuro' edited by Lorenzo Canova and Riccardo Passoni (Gangemi, 2019), Claudio Cerritelli's 'Soglie analitiche' (Nomos, 2019) on 1970s Italian painting, and Luca Bertolo's 'I baffi del bambino' (Quodlibet, 2019), a collection of his art criticism. The review highlights the rarity of critical monographs and the value of these publications for understanding Italian art.
Key facts
- Fabio Mauri's 'Scritti in mostra' is a reprint for the tenth anniversary of his death, edited by Francesca Alfano Miglietti.
- Giorgio Verzotti's monograph on Mario Merz is the first in the 'Chiavi dell'arte' series curated by Laura Cherubini.
- Iginio De Luca's 'Blitz' collects documentation of his laser projections and other interventions, with contributions from multiple authors.
- The exhibition 'Giorgio de Chirico. Ritorno al Futuro' was held at GAM Torino and curated by Lorenzo Canova and Riccardo Passoni.
- Claudio Cerritelli's 'Soglie analitiche' includes a questionnaire from 1978-79 with responses from ten Italian painters.
- Luca Bertolo's 'I baffi del bambino' collects his writings from Artribune, Flash Art, and other outlets.
- All books were published in 2018 or 2019.
- The review is by Marco Enrico Giacomelli for Artribune.
Entities
Artists
- Fabio Mauri
- Mario Merz
- Iginio De Luca
- Giorgio de Chirico
- Giulio Paolini
- Mario Ceroli
- Luigi Ontani
- Andy Warhol
- Francesco Vezzoli
- Lucio del Pezzo
- Philip Guston
- Salvo
- Luca Maria Patella
- Giorgio Griffa
- Riccardo Guarneri
- Claudio Verna
- Luca Bertolo
- Flavio Favelli
- Tiziano Scarpa
- Pino Boresta
- Joseph Kosuth
- Karl Kraus
- T.J. Clark
Institutions
- il Saggiatore
- Christian Marinotti
- Mincione
- Gangemi
- Nomos
- Quodlibet
- GAM Torino
- Artribune
- Flash Art
- doppiozero
- Le parole e le cose
- Accademia di Brera
Locations
- Milan
- Italy
- Rome
- Turin
- Busto Arsizio
- Macerata
- Woluwe-Saint-Pierre
- Belgium
- Formia