The roaring twenties

Sun, 07 Aug 2011 05:22:38 +0000
Num. 34

Paris, capital of the arts

During the 1920's Paris became both the stage and the symbol of the desire for renewal, exemplifying the feeling of liberation that was widespread at the end of World War I. Already an international capital of art and culture, the City of Light was a fashionable and cosmopolitan city. A mythical place for artists who flocked there from all over the world, attracted by its liberal customs, the intellectual ferment, theatres, cafes and art galleries, to give free expression to their creativity,

meeting together in a climate of innovation and experimentation. The sense of relief and joy that the war had ended undoubtedly contributed to the irrepressible vitality of the French capital, described by Hemingway as a «moveable feast». But although France was on the winning side, the war had left material and psychological wounds, so the excitement that characterized the "Roaring Twenties" also reflected the need to forget the suffering and destruction caused by the conflict. The complexity of these moods was manifested in the arts by a restless modernity, expressed by a variety of personalities and a kaleidoscope of styles, distinguished on occasions by the will to break with the past and to start from scratch, but also by the need to establish a new type of order, rebuilt on the reassuring foundations of tradition. The exhibition Gli anni folli. La Parigi di Modigliani, Picasso e Dalí "The Roaring Twenties. The Paris of Modigliani, Picasso and Dalí" proposes the polyphony and wealth of creative expressions of this period.

The exhibition begins with two masterpieces by Monet and Renoir, the impressionist masters who were still at work in the post-war period, continuing with the works of Modigliani, Chagall, Lipchitz, Van Dongen, Foujita, Soutine and many others. These artists did not share the same group poetry, leader or manifesto, but were united by a style that showed their uniqueness in the search for highly personal forms of expression, consistent with the dream of freedom that led them to move to Paris. Alongside this group we find Picasso, whose genius was unfolding on multiple fronts, together with Derain and De Chirico, observing the art of the past to lay the foundations of a modern classicism. We also find the works of Matisse with his concubines, nudes and interiors full of light, painted in the south of France but frequently exhibited in Paris. A veritable feast for the eyes.

Other experiences that were essential for the development and artistic renewal of the period were the Russian Ballet productions by Diaghilev and those of the Swedish Ballet by Rolf de Maré, with original costumes designed by Matisse, De Chirico and Larionov. Following this we can see the scale model for the ballet La Création du monde, with sets and costumes by Léger.

At this time Paris was also the centre of European avant- garde photography and a part of the exhibition shows us the atmosphere of those years, confronting the works of pioneer photographers such as Man Ray, André Kertész, Eugène Atget, Ilse Bing and Germaine Krull.

Studies in abstract research are principally represented by Mondrian, whose studio was one of the Parisian crossroads where the avant-garde future of the twentieth century was created.

Dadaism, and the subsequent birth of the surrealist movement, characterize entirely different experiences of the period, underlining the need to break with past, urging a return to the typical revolutionary spirit of the pre-war avant-garde groups. The Dada group in Paris, which included Max Ernst, Picabia, Duchamp, Jean Arp and Man Ray, with his corrosive and discrediting irony, represented both the culmination and the negation of all the myths of the progressive avant-garde. Surrealism grew from these ruins and, under the auspices of Marx and Freud, engaged in the ambitious task of giving a new sense of meaning to the world, leading to mankind's spiritual, as well as material, freedom.