Six New Art Books: From Devil to Dante and Bergamo

This week's editorial journey begins with an illustrated atlas of the dark side and winds through the beauties of Bergamo, a surreal abecedary, the story of superintendent Ettore Modigliani, Jacopo Valentini's works dedicated to Dante, and a magazine on Milan. Demetrio Paparoni's 'The Devil. Atlante illustrato del lato oscuro' (24 Ore Cultura, 2021) offers an exhaustive survey from Giotto to Picasso, Pollock to Serrano, and from tarot to video games, covering vast temporal, geographical, and disciplinary spans. Franco Maria Ricci publishes a volume on Bergamo with texts by Giovanni Gavazzeni, Simone Facchinetti, and Stefan Krause, and photographs by Massimo Listri. Carlos Rubio's 'Non prendermi alla lettera' (Quinto Quarto, 2021) is a graphic designer's playful abecedary with 52 letters. Skira releases 'Ettore Modigliani soprintendente' (2021), proceedings from a 2018 conference at IMT Lucca on the superintendent who directed Brera from 1908 to 1935 and curated the 1930 Italian Art exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts. Jacopo Valentini's 'Concerning Dante. Autonomous Cell' (Humbold Books, 2021) dialogues with Dante's Divine Comedy through references to Campi Flegrei, Pietra di Bismantova, and the Po River mouth, engaging with artists Federico Zuccari, Alberto Martini, and Robert Rauschenberg. 'Città Milano #12' (Oberon Media, 2021) revives the magazine founded by Carlo Orsi and Guido Vergani, featuring texts by Salvatore Veca and photographs by Francesco Cito.