900 and Quadrante: Theorizing an Interdisciplinary Aesthetic Model The metaphor of construction, and of the artist as constructor, enjoyed considerable currency in the Fascist period and marked many artists' and critics' vision of art and of the creative process (see Cioli 2011, 204-07; Salvagnini 2000, 30-32). Art critic Mario Tinti, for instance, had in 1927 heralded a 'new architectonic era' ('una nuova era architettonica'), calling for 'an art of the people, monumental and religious' ('un'arte del popolo, monumentale e religiosa') (cited in Salvagnini 2000, 30). The Fascist artist par excellence, Mario Sironi, took architecture and the figure of the architect as the subject of several of his paintings, and subsequently theorized mural painting (Sironi 1932; Sironi et al. 1933), establishing both an intellectual and a practical bond between painting and architecture. He conceived of the role of the artist in a collectivist society such as that envisioned by Fascism, as akin to that of a constructor, building on the solid cultural traditions of the nation, work and the family (Salvagnini 2000, 31; Pontiggia 1990). Our argument here, then, is that architecture and the novel intersected and developed in particularly close conjunction as intertwined aesthetic projects grounded in a set of common principles, and working to support the Fascist political project. In the journals 900 and Quadrante, they found two crucial platforms for expression and
The Regime and the Creation of an 'Arte di Stato'
State Art, the Novel, and Architecture: Intersections It is important for the materialist historian, in the most rigorous way possible, to differentiate the construction of a historical state of affairs from what one customarily calls its 'reconstruction'. The 'reconstruction' in empathy is one-dimensional. 'Construction' presupposes 'destruction'.
This chapter applies the principles identified in the previous chapters to the analysis of a set of novels and buildings which exemplify the structural and conceptual intersections and points of contact between literature and architecture, considered here as convergent aesthetico-political projects aimed at the construction of a modern culture supporting the Fascist dictatorship. Our analysis takes into account the discourses surrounding the production and reception of these artworks, shedding light on their reception and their position within the Fascist cultural system. In the first section we analyse four novels: Gli indifferenti, Luce fredda, 522: racconto di una giornata and La strada e il volante. In the second section we carry out an analysis of three buildings: the Santa Maria Novella railway station in Florence, the expansion of the Olivetti factory in Ivrea, and the Danteum.
Conclusion It is good to give materialist investigations a truncated end.-Benjamin (Arcades, [N9a, 2], 473)
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