Throughout the Italian seventies, conventionally spanning from the international establishment of Arte Povera (1969) to the first signs of the Transavanguardia (1979), drawing plays leading if overlooked role. The thesis articulates the historical developments of the medium in the conceptualist decade terms of material practices and theoretical paradigms. In 1969 a new function is assigned to drawing as planning as projects, proposals and sketches were exhibited as autonomous works of art. Although responding to dematerialization, the processual work on paper of Zorio, Anselmo and Penone focused on fundamentals of drawing (touch, line, tone). However, projects early represented a genre in itself, drawn from architecture and design, and the relationship with the actual works or installations has a conceptualist value and autonomy in the practice of artists such as Merz. Drawing was then at the core of Paolini and Boetti’s practice, in which paradigms are formulated about essentials of the medium (the hand, perspective, reduction, registries, shadow drawing and retracing). The analytical orientation of conceptualism was charged with psychanalytical and performative contents at the moment of its critical definition in 1976, on the occasione of Bonito Oliva’s essay Drawing/Transparence. This turn resonated with the young artists’s practices of drawing as a private material to be mediated in public works, such as Salvadori’s drawing books or Clemente’s photographic exhibitions. The “return to drawing” acclaimed collectively to identify the generation overcoming the arte povera is analyzed here as a rhetorical construction. It has certainly foundations in the new values of fragility, ephemerality, portability and chance in authors such as Paladino or De Maria; but it was also in continuity with long standing practices of artists like Calzolari and Kounellis. Instead, a function of discontinuity is intentionally looked for in the Cucchi and Chia’s intellectual stress on the most traditional features of the medium and its performative corruption into a fake drawing.

Durante gli anni Settanta italiani, che convenzionalmente vanno dall'emergere internazionale dell'Arte Povera (1969) ai primi segnali della Transavanguardia (1979), il disegno ha avuto un ruolo di primo piano anche se trascurato. La tesi articola gli sviluppi storici del medium nel decennio concettuale in termini di pratiche materiali e paradigmi teorici. Nel 1969, al disegno viene assegnata una nuova funzione: progetti, proposte e schizzi vengono esposti come opere d'arte autonome. Pur rispondendo alla smaterializzazione, i lavori processuali su carta di Zorio, Anselmo e Penone si concentrano sui fondamenti del disegno (tocco, linea, tono). Tuttavia, i progetti sono presto diventati un genere a sé stante, attinto dall'architettura e dal design, e il rapporto con le opere o le installazioni reali ha un valore concettualista e autonomo nella pratica di artisti come Merz. Il disegno è quindi al centro della pratica di Paolini e Boetti, in cui vengono formulati paradigmi sugli elementi essenziali del mezzo (la mano, la prospettiva, la riduzione, i registri, il disegno delle ombre e il ricalco). L'orientamento analitico del concettualismo si carica di contenuti psicoanalitici e performativi al momento della sua definizione critica nel 1976, in occasione del saggio di Bonito Oliva Disegno/Trasparenza. Questa svolta risuonava con le pratiche dei giovani artisti che vedevano il disegno come un materiale privato da mediare in opere pubbliche, come i libri di disegno di Salvadori o le mostre fotografiche di Clemente. Il "ritorno al disegno", acclamato collettivamente per identificare la generazione che ha superato l'arte povera, viene qui analizzato come una costruzione retorica. Esso ha certamente delle basi nei nuovi valori di fragilità, effimerità, portabilità e casualità di autori come Paladino o De Maria; ma era anche in continuità con le pratiche di lunga data di artisti come Calzolari e Kounellis. Una funzione di discontinuità è invece intenzionalmente ricercata nell'enfasi intellettuale di Cucchi e Chia sulle caratteristiche più tradizionali del mezzo e sulla sua corruzione performativa in un disegno finto.

Drawing and conceptualism. Paradigms, practices, and international exchanges in Italy (1969-1979) / Bosco, Filippo; relatore: FERGONZI, FLAVIO; Scuola Normale Superiore, ciclo 34, 28-Feb-2024.

Drawing and conceptualism. Paradigms, practices, and international exchanges in Italy (1969-1979)

BOSCO, FILIPPO
2024

Abstract

Throughout the Italian seventies, conventionally spanning from the international establishment of Arte Povera (1969) to the first signs of the Transavanguardia (1979), drawing plays leading if overlooked role. The thesis articulates the historical developments of the medium in the conceptualist decade terms of material practices and theoretical paradigms. In 1969 a new function is assigned to drawing as planning as projects, proposals and sketches were exhibited as autonomous works of art. Although responding to dematerialization, the processual work on paper of Zorio, Anselmo and Penone focused on fundamentals of drawing (touch, line, tone). However, projects early represented a genre in itself, drawn from architecture and design, and the relationship with the actual works or installations has a conceptualist value and autonomy in the practice of artists such as Merz. Drawing was then at the core of Paolini and Boetti’s practice, in which paradigms are formulated about essentials of the medium (the hand, perspective, reduction, registries, shadow drawing and retracing). The analytical orientation of conceptualism was charged with psychanalytical and performative contents at the moment of its critical definition in 1976, on the occasione of Bonito Oliva’s essay Drawing/Transparence. This turn resonated with the young artists’s practices of drawing as a private material to be mediated in public works, such as Salvadori’s drawing books or Clemente’s photographic exhibitions. The “return to drawing” acclaimed collectively to identify the generation overcoming the arte povera is analyzed here as a rhetorical construction. It has certainly foundations in the new values of fragility, ephemerality, portability and chance in authors such as Paladino or De Maria; but it was also in continuity with long standing practices of artists like Calzolari and Kounellis. Instead, a function of discontinuity is intentionally looked for in the Cucchi and Chia’s intellectual stress on the most traditional features of the medium and its performative corruption into a fake drawing.
28-feb-2024
Settore L-ART/03 - Storia dell'Arte Contemporanea
Storia dell'arte e Archeologia
34
drawing; conceptualism; project; diagram; geometry; reduction; transavanguardia; draftsmanship
Scuola Normale Superiore
FERGONZI, FLAVIO
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11384/138970
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