Between 1920s and 1940s, Bernard Berenson was considered in France as an “esprit novateur”. The French translation of Italian painters of the Renaissance by Louis Gillet, published in 1926, had introduced the new generation of art historians to a scientific analysis of style based not only on the relationship between the works and the artists in a historical perspective but more generally speaking between artistic phenomena and human existence. The 1935 Exposition de l’art italien de Cimabue à Tiepolo at the Petit Palais in Paris, further enhanced Berenson’s reputation as it appeared to be dominated by his personality even more than the original 1930 London one. Whereas some of his attributions were debated in Italy, the French celebrated him. Inside the Petit Palais the Salle d’honneur exemplified his view of a Renaissance chronology that went from Bellini to Michelangelo, outside of it the Peintres italiens sold “like hotcakes” while in the catalogue, Paul Valery condoned his vision of the Italian Renaissance as realisation of humans values and, with Athens and Paris, as one of the foundations of a European civilisation conceived as a “société de l’esprit”. But the exhibition was at the same time politically motivated. An avowed tool of fascist propaganda on the part of the Italian government it was also part of the diplomatic rapprochement between France and Italy, the “soeurs latines”, that followed Pierre Laval’s trip to Rome in the spring of 1935, and as such fixed the boundaries of a geo-political dialogue between the two allied nations. My paper will highlight the contradictory nature of the artistic and political goals behind the 1935 exhibition to reflect on the political and cultural power of art history as system of values and interpretation of collective identities.
BERNARD BERENSON E L’EXPOSITION DE L’ART ITALIEN DE CIMABUE À TIEPOLO AL PETIT PALAIS, 1935, in Berenson et la France, Studi di Memofonte, XIV (luglio 2015) , a cura di Monica Preti-Hamard
TROTTA, Antonella
2015-01-01
Abstract
Between 1920s and 1940s, Bernard Berenson was considered in France as an “esprit novateur”. The French translation of Italian painters of the Renaissance by Louis Gillet, published in 1926, had introduced the new generation of art historians to a scientific analysis of style based not only on the relationship between the works and the artists in a historical perspective but more generally speaking between artistic phenomena and human existence. The 1935 Exposition de l’art italien de Cimabue à Tiepolo at the Petit Palais in Paris, further enhanced Berenson’s reputation as it appeared to be dominated by his personality even more than the original 1930 London one. Whereas some of his attributions were debated in Italy, the French celebrated him. Inside the Petit Palais the Salle d’honneur exemplified his view of a Renaissance chronology that went from Bellini to Michelangelo, outside of it the Peintres italiens sold “like hotcakes” while in the catalogue, Paul Valery condoned his vision of the Italian Renaissance as realisation of humans values and, with Athens and Paris, as one of the foundations of a European civilisation conceived as a “société de l’esprit”. But the exhibition was at the same time politically motivated. An avowed tool of fascist propaganda on the part of the Italian government it was also part of the diplomatic rapprochement between France and Italy, the “soeurs latines”, that followed Pierre Laval’s trip to Rome in the spring of 1935, and as such fixed the boundaries of a geo-political dialogue between the two allied nations. My paper will highlight the contradictory nature of the artistic and political goals behind the 1935 exhibition to reflect on the political and cultural power of art history as system of values and interpretation of collective identities.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
