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| Faust by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn |
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| Inside the Guggenheim Museum |
My day began with a visit to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum to see the highly touted Chaos and Classicism: Art in France, Italy, and Germany, 1918-1936. Billed as "the first major exhibition in the United States to explore the classicizing aesthetic that followed the immense destruction of World War I," this collection spans the interwar period when European artists were rejecting the various pre-war avant-garde styles of art (Cubism, Futurism, etc.) for more traditional, classical forms of expression. I couldn't miss this golden opportunity to see so many works I've only read about online and in books and journals. Unfortunately, no photographs were allowed.
The exhibit begins with a selection of prints from Otto Dix's Der Krieg (The War), a gruesome portfolio of the horrors he experienced as a soldier during the Great War. His graphic images of mutilated bodies obviously represent the chaos of post-war Europe. In stark contrast to Dix's illustrations stand several life-sized, idealized bronze figures, including the allegorical Ile-de-France by Aristide Maillol and a sublime representation of the Sicilian Nereid, Galatea, by Neapolitan sculptor, Amleto Cataldi. These statues, of course, exemplify the classicism that emerged from the chaos.
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| Stormtroops Advancing Under Gas by Otto Dix |
On a personal note, Dix's Stormtroops Advancing Under Gas was inspiration for an art project I had in high school and was a thrill (if one can say that about such a dreadful subject) to finally see in person.
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| Detail from my high school assignment inspired by Dix's suite, Der Krie |
As you continue to ascend the circular ramp, which winds its way to the museum's various galleries, one is treated to an eclectic array of paintings and sculptures from the period. There are roughly 150 works by more than 80 artists on display. Among them are familiar names like Pablo Picasso (Woman in White and The Source) and Henri Matisse (Large Seated Nude), but more interestingly (to me) are the pieces by lesser-known artists like Georg Scholz (Female Nude with Plaster Bust), Leon-Ernest Driver (Bust of Madame X), and Leo Breuer (The Coal Man).
Highlights include Renato Bertelli's Continuous Profile of Mussolini, Antonio Donghi's Circus, and Arturo Martini's The Stars, a beautiful bronze sculpture depicting a man and woman standing next to a truncated tree staring upwards.
In addition to the many paintings, sculptures and photographs, the exhibit also includes avant-garde director Jean Cocteau's bizarre film Le sang d'un poète or The Blood of a Poet. Loaded with surreal imagery, the movie was the first installment of Cocteau's "Orphic Trilogy," loosely based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.
The exposition concludes with the so-called "Dark Side of Classicism," showing how art in Italy and Germany became heavily propagandized with the advent of Fascism. The gallery displays the "collusionist" work of Italian artists Mario Sironi (Soldier and Leader on Horseback), Arturo Martini (Athena) and Giorgio de Chirico (Gladiators). Also on view are Georg Kolbe's Young Warrior and Adolf Ziegler's triptych, The Four Elements. Ziegler, it should be remembered, was instrumental in the Third Reich's crusade against "degenerate" art. His attempt to denigrate the confiscated work backfired when the Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art) spectacle became one of the most popular modern art shows ever. This portion of the exhibit culminates with Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia, a documentary film about the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Fittingly, Franz Würbel's Berlin Olympics poster stands adjacent to the mini theater.
The exhibit will be running until January 9, 2011.
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| Two Women by Isabella Dionisio |
The presepio, or crèche, is a model Christmas crib displayed in homes or public places. The figures are typically made with polychromed wood or terracotta and clothed with fabric. In Naples this ancient custom (credited to St. Francis of Assisi) has been wholeheartedly embraced and developed into a legitimate art form.
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| A Herdsman by Gianluca Buonocore |
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| Figure by Giovanni Sinno |
Under the patronage of the Bourbons, the custom spread among the Neapolitan nobility and grew ever more elaborate and dramatic. During Christmas time the aristocracy would welcome the populace into their palaces to showcase the tableau. According to Goethe it was a "hobby for people in high places." Luckily, an 18th century cart from the Bourbon collection from Reggia di Caserta is included in the show.
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| Cart with riders from the Reggia di Caserta |
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| Anita Sanseverino and her photos at the Italian American Museum |
In spite of their obvious differences, the installations at the Guggenheim Museum and Italian Cultural Institute honor the history and traditions of Southern Italian culture encapsulated through vast mediums of art. It is a fortunate thing to be living in New York City, where such exhibits can exist in relatively close range. If you have access to the city, I urge you to visit these events while they are still in session. Some things should not be missed.
By Giovanni di Napoli
Further reading:
• Chaos and Classicism: Art in France, Italy, and Germany, 1918-1936 by Kenneth E. Silver, Guggenheim Museum, 2010
• New York—The Art of the Neapolitan Crèche/Nativity in the World at i-Italy.org
• The Angel Tree: A Christmas Celebration by Linn Howard and Mary Jane Pool, Abrams, 1993
• A Neapolitan Christmas Crib by Olga Raggio, The Metroploitan Museum of Art Bulletin, December 1965
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| Santa Lucia by Antonio Gagni (1552), Chiesa di Santa Lucia, Mistretta, Messina Photo courtesy of Anthony Scillia |
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The Martyrdom of Sant'Agata, Maschio Angioino, Napoli
Photo by New York Scugnizzo
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| Santa Lucia, Duomo di Siracusa Photo by Niccolò Graffio |
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Santa Lucia, Savoca, Sicily Photo by Niccolò Graffio |
By John Stavola
Our English based jury system provides many advantages to the accused. A trial by a "jury of your peers" provides a safeguard against unjust laws that may be imposed by a ruling class. How many people are aware they they have this right of jury nullification. They may decide the case however they choose regardless of what a judge may "charge" them to do. If you ever need to avoid jury duty just tell the judge when interviewed that you are aware of your rights as a fully informed juror. "Certain notions have long accompanied the image of southern Italian villages in the minds of foreigners, and indeed often Italian observers. Ideas of poverty and backwardness, of isolation and alienness, of illiteracy and ignorance, and of beliefs and ritual practices understandable at best through anthropological analysis have long characterized outside observers' perceptions of rural society in regions south of Rome and Naples. I do not reject all these characterizations, and, indeed in this book I stress the significance of some of them. I argue, however, that the southern villages were similar to those of many regions of western Europe. More important, although undoubtedly poor and often remote, they were home to dynamic and flexible communities that were able effectively to handle their internal tensions, to maintain a lively and autonomous culture, and to interact frequently and successfully with external authorities. The land was often formidable and the villagers mostly illiterate, but southern Italian rural people were far from passive and fatalistic victims of larger natural or human forces." pg xii
"...The villagers shaped a lively, autonomous culture which long maintained its own values, rules, and traditions. Personal honor and achievements,which were reflected in each villager's reputation, remained more important than inherited wealth or status within the local community." pg XVII
"...Village culture was characterized by a practical attitude, and when villagers took a negative view of their neighbors, it happened less on the basis of abstract notions of morality than because someone's actions endangered the stability or well-being of the community. Judgment was much more severe with outsiders than with well-integrated members of the village." pg 139
"The village was administered by two mayors (sindaci) and four or five eldermen (eletti) who all served one year terms..." pg 130
"Like many noble landowners throughout Europe, Neapolitan lords enjoyed the right of jurisdiction over practically all inhabitants of the villages and towns enfeoffed to them. Until the abolition of the feudal system in 1806, the term vassals was indeed used for all those subject to their lord's jurisdiction in the Kingdom of Naples. The Neapolitan feudal lords (known also as barons) were, however peculiar both in the extent of their jurisdictional powers and in the percentage of the kingdom's population subject to those powers." pp. 48,49
"...Neither the governor nor his counselor, in keeping with laws and traditions, was a native of Pentidattilo or belonged to village families." pg. 47
"...Jurists insisted that the questioning not be leading or in any way suggestive and that the witnesses always be asked de causa scientiae, that is how they knew what they knew..." pg.60
"...When, as in most cases the defense failed to sway the court, and when the crime was punishable with corporal or harsher penalties (which was the case with a large number of crimes), the judge could order the torture of the defendant in order to obtain a confession. The use of torture was justified not only by the concern with the repression of crime but also the very emphasis on avoiding the arbitrary decision of the judge on creating absolute, objective standards of proof. Torture was carefully regulated in law and doctrine, as to duration and method. Unlike its twentieth-century incarnation, early modern torture was a regular, thoroughly structured part of criminal procedure. Because it could not simply be applied until the defendant confessed, torture could therefore be resisted."
"The defendant was to be encouraged and threatened until the very last minute before torture and throughout its duration, in the hope of diminishing the infliction of pain. A medical examination was necessary before torture could be applied, and a physician was to attend the torture, in order to prevent life threatening pain. To avoid excessive pain and vomiting, torture had to be inflicted several hours after the defendant had eaten. Certain categories of defendants, such as the old, the infirm, the very young, or pregnant women were exempted from torture, as were at least for most crimes, privileged groups such as priests, nobles, and -perhaps unsurprisingly- judges and illustrious jurists."
"...Torture could usually be applied up to three times in separate days, though again for grave crimes it was possible to continue further. A confession given under torture had no validity unless ratified the next day by the defendant. Refusal to ratify, however usually resulted in renewed torture. Although we do not know much about the effectiveness of torture, it seems to have been, if not a "relatively mild ordeal," certainly not as effective as legislators might have hoped." pp 62,63
"...Public opinion and the reputation of the parties involved in a crime were, as we have seen, essential elements in early modern judicial practice...when it came to the final assessment of what the events had meant the court turned to the men of Pentidattilo, to solid citizens, to give confirmation and legitimation to, and offer a commentary on, what the court had done and learned. In this sense, these seven witnesses played a role not unlike the Greek tragic chorus." pg. 78
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| Marshal Armando Diaz of Italy |
“It is defeat that turns bone to flint; it is defeat that turns gristle to muscle; it is defeat that makes men invincible.” – H.W. Beecher: Royal Truths, 1862
After this, the war probably given any real measure of attention by Americans is the American Revolutionary War. Ironically, though this was the war that created this country, of the three it is undoubtedly given the least attention. This writer has found it humorous for decades now the bulk of people he has witnessed shooting fireworks off on July 4th have not the slightest clue why they are doing it. Like the blathering sheep in George Orwell’s book Animal Farm, they just do it.“War makes the victor stupid and the vanquished vengeful.”– Friedrich Nietzsche: Human, All Too Human, I 1878
From the Supreme Headquarters 12:00 hours, November 4, 1918
The war against Austria-Hungary which the Italian Army, inferior in number and equipment, began on 24 May 1915 under the leadership of His Majesty and supreme leader the King and with a unwavering faith and tenacious bravery conducted without rest for 41 months, is won.
The gigantic battle, which opened on the 24th of last October and in which 51 Italian divisions, 3 British, 2 French, 1 Czechoslovak and a US regiment participated against 63 Austrian divisions, is over.The very rapid and most audacious advance of the XXIX Army Corps on Trento, blocking the withdrawal of the enemy armies from Trentino, that were also carried away from the west by the advancing of VII army and from the east by the I, VI, and the IV armies caused the collapse of the enemy's front. From Brenta to the Torre, the fleeing enemy is pushed back farther by the irresistible onslaught of the XII, VIII, X Armies and of the cavalry divisions.
In the plain His Royal Highness the Duke of Aosta is advancing at the head of his undefeated III Army, hoping to come back as a winner to the positions that weren't lost by the Third Army.
The Austro-Hungarian Army is vanquished: it has suffered great losses in the hard resistance in the early days and during the pursuit, and it has lost a great quantity of materials of various types and whole stocks in warehouses. The Austro-Hungarian Army has left about 300,000 prisoners of war and also their entire staff and at least 5,000 pieces of artillery.
The remnants of what was one of the most powerful armies in the world are retreating hopelessly and in chaos from the valleys that they had descended with proud self-assurance.
Army Chief of Staff, General Diaz
