Art and Intimacy in Modern Italy - Entangled Lives

A much-needed corrective to the history of single authorship, this timely volume offers new insight i nto the lives and practices of the artist couples, friendships and communities that shaped postwar art in Italy. Bringing together a series of essays from international scholars across a variety of subject fields, the volume considers a range of longstanding intimate working relationships. Questioning the extent to which exchange formed part of artistic production, and the nature of such partnerships, the contributors explore a variety of underexplored case studies that opens to new readings of Italian art informed by key contemporary issues surrounding gender and sexuality, modern Italian identities and transcultural exchange. In covering friendships, bi-racial, trans-cultural and familial relations, the volume adds much needed perspectives to modern Italy''s social and political histories, through case studies of well-known as well as overlooked figures and creative partnerships including Mario and Marisa Merz; the de Chirico brothers, William Demby and Lucia Drudi; and Antonia and Ugo Mulas. Three sections guide the reader through different working and affective dynamics: Shadowy Presences, Ins and Outs; and Alliances. The volume explores practitioners in the visual arts, as well as art critics, institutional figures, screen and theatre writers, designers, and photographers. Rather than merely a descriptive or celebratory account of couples and partnerships in postwar Italian art, Art and Intimacy in Modern Italy asks what comes into view and what is left out when thinking about art history through this relational lens.

Product details

• Authors: Sharon Hecker, Teresa Kittler
• Assisted by: Sharon Hecker (Editor), Teresa Kittler (Editor)
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 19.03.2025
• EAN: 9781350420335
• ISBN: 978-1-350-42033-5
• No. of pages: 320
• Dimensions: 160 mm x 236 mm x 22 mm
• Series: Visual Cultures and Italian Contexts
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Art history; Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000, Cultural Studies, Theory of art, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Gender Studies, ART / Criticism & Theory, ART / European, ART / History / Contemporary (1945-), ART / Women Artists, Italy, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, History of Art, History of art & design styles: from c 1900 -, Social and cultural history, Gender studies, gender groups, Gay & Lesbian studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / LGBTQ+ Studies / General, LGBTQ+ Studies / topics, ART / LGBTQ+ Artists