Sogni e ideali. Cicli decorativi italiani nelle Esposizioni Internazionali (1890 - 1914)

Through the study of Italian decorative paintings between the late 800 and early 900, the volume provides an overview of cultural and social ferment that led to the development of modern painting. The ideismo, the monumentality, syntheticism, characterizing the decorations of old and new buildings and environments in particular of internationals exhibitions, in fact, define a new artistic language capable of communicating with the spirit of the time. In a climate of profound social transformations, decorations propagate content and optimistic ideals through forms borrowed from the art of the past and yet to date on new European style. The language that is emerging through the decoration is in fact sensitive to the symbolist, idealist that replaces the historical content and historical-moral-realist. The volume provides historically a critical reading of this form of artistic expression through the analysis of the major Italian decorations at International Exhibitions - Exposition of the Sempione in Milan at the Venice Biennale, the Cinquantenario Exhibition in Rome - produced by artists such as Cesare Laurenti, Galileo Chini, Aristide Sartorio.