Tra pittura e scultura. Casi di giapponismo negli anni di "Valori Plastici"

The essay focuses on a relatively unknown aspect within the major moment of transition in Italian art and culture which took place around the magazine "Valori Plastici" between the second and third decade of the 20th century. By discussing the notion of Japonisme and its political implications, the essay aims to reconstruct the reception of Japanese art in Italy at that time and the elaborate and multifaceted integration of its influence within the debates around the new classical impulses emerging at that time and the general tendency of the so-called "return to order". Artistical, literary and critical influences, by the likes of sculptor Arturo Martini, painter Filippo de Pisis and writer and intellectual Ardengo Soffici, are analyzed and collapsed in the essay, which emphasizes the importance of the collection of books "La Civiltà Artistica", published by "Valori Plastici" as part of a broader editorial strategy of international recognition. The 12 volumes of the series were all dedicated to the art of remote times and places, composing a panorama of the so-called "primitivism", and were originally published in Germany.