Ennio Morlotti e l’arte a Milano 1937-1953

https://www.academia.edu/45027915/Ennio_Morlotti_e_larte_a_Milano_1937_1953 The book revolves around the reconstruction of the early years of activity of the painter Ennio Morlotti, from his debut in 1937 up until a series of major solo shows taking place in 1953 and 1954, which assessed his maturity and status as a leading figure in Italian art. In the book, I argue that the art of the early postwar years should be considered in light of the complex, yet culturally rich, development and discussion of art and culture during the war, which honed debates and issues emerging in the late 1930s into the major tendencies of postwar art. By doing so, I question the usual approach, by virtue of which postwar art is radically opposed to what had happened right before, and contend that a perspective of continuity should be taken into consideration. The art of Morlotti attests to the evolution of art and culture throughout all those years. It cannot be considered neither as the result of a sudden fracture with the troublesome events of the war, nor as the resurgence of an artistic and cultural context after years of silence and destruction. Based in Milan in the key years around WWII, the painter witnessed and fostered major and radical changes in the cultural debates, which would impact the development of art in the postwar years. The study of his figure and practice is based on a thorough reconstruction of exhibitions, publications and the network of artists, writers, intellectuals, art critics and dealers whom Morlotti encountered in those years, both in Italy and abroad. The reconstruction was done by aligning the analysis of the artworks with an extensive archival research, by virtue of which many episodes and artworks, which had been overlooked if not totally neglected, were rediscovered and brought back to light. Through the work of Morlotti, I could investigate major issues in the history of art between 1937 and 1953. The major accomplishments of this research lie in two major fields. The first one is the analysis of international relationships tying Italy with European countries, such as France and Germany, as well as the United States. Most of these connections had been scantily acknowledged in the scholarship on the art of that period. The latter achievement is the contextualization of postwar are within the events which impacted the art context in the immediately preceding years. In the usual approach, postwar art and culture is severed from what happened during WWII, by means of a comparative perspective which privileges the discontinuity and the friction over the continuity and the sense of legacy. By looking at the art of Morlotti and his peers as the result of the events which happened right before the war as well as the troublesome years marked by WWII, the complexity of that moment in history emerges and could be properly addressed.