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Which Classicism? Beyond Brushwork and Form to Situate Armando Spadini in the Context of the 1920s

Traversaro, Chiara
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Abstract
In 1922, Armando Spadini (1883-1925) appeared in Florence at the Fiorentina Primaverile exhibition with the Valori Plastici group, the most significant advocates for modern “classical” art in the 1920s. Only a couple of years earlier Spadini had been criticized for his “lustful Impressionism” by those same people who would later accept him in the Valori Plastici group. In 1924, Spadini, widely appreciated as one of the best contemporary painters, held his first solo show at the Venice Biennale. This thesis will attempt to better situate Spadini in the context of the 1920s, analysing the shift in style and critical reception which occurred around 1918-1920, and studying as case studies his participation in the two above-mentioned exhibitions. A picture will emerge of a painter who was more seriously engaged with the debates of his time than it is often credited. Spadini elaborated his own peculiar synthesis of elements, such as colour, drawing, construction, intuition, and tradition, which were all variously tied to the notion of the “classical.” The exploration into his own response to this issue will serve to underline the various connotations of the “classicisms” of the 1920s and of the Valori Plastici group, questioning some assumed narratives of the studies on this period. The term “classical” was a repository of disparate - at times divergent - artistic conceptions and expressions. It was generally made to stand for the modern standard of “meaningful” and “grand” art; used and instrumentalized by critics, often with nationalistic overtones. The term can serve as a methodological tool only if each of these diverse elements is examined in its own peculiar significance in the critical and ideological context of its occurrence, and not when “classical” is discussed as a transhistorical and univocal “style.” Thus, the ultimate aim of this thesis is to highlight how labels – those constructions which mirror the way we recount the history of art - despite being often necessary in order to trace a clear picture of a period, are misleading if not properly contextualized.
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Thesis (B.A. in Art History, Minor in Entrepreneurship)--John Cabot University, Spring 2019.
Date
2019
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Armando Spadini, 1883-1925, Italian painting, Italian art
Citation
Traversaro, Chiara. "Which Classicism? Beyond Brushwork and Form to Situate Armando Spadini in the Context of the 1920s". BA Thesis, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy. 2019.
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