| 17. Notes on Artistic-Cultural Innovations from Post War Years to the Present Day |
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In the feverish climate of renovation and progress which
effected the whole of Europe at the beginning of the 20th
Century, also in Florence industrial development becomes the main
aspect of social life, replacing the age-old tradition of
handcrafts. Urbanistic development was greater in the western
part of the town where the Nuovo Pignone and Galileo factories
had grown up. It is in this atmosphere that futurism finds in
artists such as Rosai, Soffici and Conti and a few others the
link with European culture. Meanwhile in the field of literature,
an extraordinary number of reviews began publication (the
"Leonardo", "La Voce" and
"Frontespizio,"), which are characteristic of the
particular time the town is going through as one of the liviest
international towns.
With the arrival of Fascism, Florence both architecturally and
urbanistically, as well as artistically, is dominated by the
inspiration of Roman-style grandeur which borders on the
anonymous, with a few exceptions anticipating the style of
architecture which will become popular after the War; the Santa
Maria Novella station by the Michelucci group, the Stadium by
Pier Luigi Nervi and other rational buildings.
During this period, the same as Maccari's "Selvaggio"
(1928), Rosai rediscovered, with his authentic sensitivity and
clarity, the values of a wonderland full of moods and cultural
stratifications.
The poetic and literary world, on the wake of the avangarde
magazines, whose protagonists used to meet at the "Giubbe
Rosse" Coffee House, tends towards a line of defense, of
cold war against the pseudo-cultural impositions of the Fascist
regime. These magazines also attract foreign contribution to
Florentine culture and an attempt at "alternate
culture" is made during the years between the two World
Wars.
The destruction incurred during the Second World War and the sad
episode of the bridges over the Arno which disappeared, along
with the portions of the riverside and streets around the Old
Bridge, broke up the town's centre even more. During the period
of re-construction, building speculation was to play a major part
in the new urbanistic structure of the town.
In the artistic field, along with a renewal of naturalism and the
remnants of post-macchiaolic degeneration, the post-War years
mark the birth of new literary reviews: "Inventario",
and "Società" by Bilenchi, "II Ponte"
by Calamandrei, up to "Belfagor" and
"Paragone", in the fifties, by Roberto Longhi and Anna
Banti. Not to be forgotten either, the cultural policy that the
"Nuovo Corriere" (which ceased publication in 1957)
offered daily (under the Direction of Bilenchi) and the
"Studio di Storia dell'Arte" (under the Direction of
Ragghianti), with its articles that are openly-declared to be
de-provincialising, devoted to antique and contemporary art (such
as the Guggenheim exhibition and the Frank Lloyd Wright
exhibition in 1951, which brought to Italy, for the first time,
the breath of international architectonic innovation) that will
pave the way for the revolutionary movements, somewhat behind in
respect to international culture, or even Italian culture, the
first abstractists in Milan and Como began work around 1930,
which take place around several well- known cultural
personalities.The "Arte d'Oggi" group was formed in 1946-47 on
neocubic lines; from this group each artist developed his own
form of definition which through a series of national and
international exhibitions characterized the group of
"classical abstractism" with its programmatic Manifesto
of 1950, whereas the more neo-realistic line joins up in the mid-
50's with the "Nuova Corrente" group.
During the difficult years of re-construction, the renewing and
moralizing incentive of the new architectural entreaties are in
heavy contrast with the feverish speculation that is being made
in the building industry: any new ideas are only carried out on a
private level, whereas development in the social community is
made, for the main part, disordinately.
Edoardo Detti's new town planning regulations are the
first.authorative attempt to restrain and co-ordinate building
projects. Experiments in the architectural field are limited to
isolated examples (the Motorway Church by Michelucci, a few
apartment buildings and the Verrazzano Bridge by Savioli and the
Vespucci Bridge by the Gori group, re-building of the Minerva
Hotel and the "Nuova Italia" building by Detti, the RAI
Centre by the Gamberini team and a few of new architects'
experiments).
In this respect the importance of the Faculty of Architecture
should be mentioned. It was here that the first disputes were
made. The new generation of the sixties moved the cultural
interest from literature to visual arts. The operation of
"de-provincialisation" which began in the 40's, (the
thrust given by Ragghianti's review), gain consistency in the
sixties, when more violent contradictions are expressed.
Although informality as the expression of the philosophy of the
crisis, was manifested in several important ways, the latest
visual art experiences find Florence in line with the
international panorama, although exluded to a fair extent from
the national and international scene as it is less industrialized
than some of the other larger towns.
The first years of the 60's are characterised by promotional
activity devoted exclusively to the more advanced artistic and
musical fields. The flood of 1966, which caused great damage to
the artistic patrimony of Florence, also brought to the town a
great number of young people from all parts of the world who
helped to make known that society was going through a crisis
between capitalistic industrial economy and democratic liberty.
It is this crisis which brought about (in line with the fight for
liberty all over the world) the students' revolts, which for the
first time had joined forces with the workers'.
With regard to architecture in Florence, political and
operational team projects take on a definite form, launched
during the occupation of the Faculty of Architecture in January
1968 with continual research courses. As a result of this radical
architecture is born: a refusal to accept consumistic compromises
and an attempt to provoke a reaction for the development of
individual and group creativity by adopting "poor"
materials. The same type of objection was also made with regard
to the visual arts: the art of "behaviour", conceptual
art, body art, the poetic alternatives to "non art",
have substituted, for the young generation, the traditional
"gift for art".
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