Papers by Chiara Pazzaglia
«Sculptures» n° 9, pp. 63-73, 2023
«Italian modern art», Issue 5, May, 2021
In the early-1930s Italy, monumental sculptors were commissioned to create reliefs to be situated... more In the early-1930s Italy, monumental sculptors were commissioned to create reliefs to be situated within architecture. In the eyes of Marcello Piacentini, the leading voice of the stile littorio (“lictor style”), the constraints inherent to the relief as a sculptural form would lead to an ideal synergy between artists and architects. Already acclaimed for his free-standing sculptures, Marino Marini first presented reliefs at two major exhibitions curated by Mario Sironi: in 1932, at the Mostra della rivoluzione fascista; and in 1933, for the Milan Triennale. For an artist inclined to sculpt in the round, thinking “in relief” involved different problems. This essay aims to investigate Marini’s complex study of the fixed point of view of the relief in the works dominated by the presence of female figures. In 1939, he admitted that his main concern in the full-length figure was to analyze “the natural play of volumes” in space. Thus, transferring that figure to a surface forced him to rethink its sculptural significance. This essay specifically considers Marini’s public commissions in the 1930s, including his attempts to combine the free-standing Pomona with a fixed point of view, as well as his expressionistic turn in the 1940s, starting with his variations on the theme of the Three Graces. The traditional representation of the latter myth, at the core of the sculptor’s interests in the war years, helped Marini to investigate the relation of figures to their background. However, in his reliefs the myth was distorted in its dramatic application to modern-day content, probably looking at the contemporary work of Mario Mafai and Giacomo Manzù. In summary, this group of works helps to define the versatility with which Marini approached the sculptural theme of the female nude in relief.
«Studi di scultura. Età moderna e contemporanea», Anno I, N. 1/2019, pp. 138-157, 2019
In 1939-1940, Marino Marini was commissioned to create five reliefs for the decoration of one of ... more In 1939-1940, Marino Marini was commissioned to create five reliefs for the decoration of one of the most ambitious architectural projects of Fascism in the late Thirties, the Palazzo dell’Arengario in Milan (1938-1956 ca.). Firstly, this paper scrutinizes the sculptor’s renunciation, in 1942. Marino, indeed, decided not to accomplish this task, due to the war and the excessive restraints imposed by the Arengario’s architects. Thus, the only remaining evidence of his involvement can be found in a group of four preliminary plaster reliefs. Against this background, the paper then proceeds to formulate hypotheses as to the fate of the firth lost plaster relief belonging to the original group of his "Glorificazioni milanesi dell’evo moderno" (Milan’s glorifications of modern century). Even if never translated into marble, the reliefs were originally designed as the crucial part of the building’s propagandistic program. The final part of the research aims at providing meaningful insight as to the complex allegorical iconography of the five reliefs. Relying on an analysis of original sketches, contemporary written sources and visual comparisons with other artists, the paper offers an interpretation of the reliefs’ intended themes.
Conference Presentations by Chiara Pazzaglia
Early career research symposium «Modern Sculpture, Essence, and Difference: Reflections on the Work of Constantin Brâncuşi», London, The Courtauld Institute of Art, 26 April 2024, 2024
In the catalogue of the 1986 exhibition at the Centre Pompidou «Qu’est-ce que la sculpture modern... more In the catalogue of the 1986 exhibition at the Centre Pompidou «Qu’est-ce que la sculpture moderne?» Rosalind Krauss revisited themes from her book «Originality of the Avant-Garde and other modernist myths» (1985) to underscore the erosion of the monumental logic inherent in modernist sculpture. One of the examples she chose was Constantin Brâncuşi’s tripartite monumental complex in Târgu-Jiu, created in 1937 on commission from the Women’s League of Gorj to honour soldiers who defended the city against the German forces in 1916.
Krauss, echoing observations by American scholar Sidney Geist, argued that the three elements of Brâncuşi’s complex were only mentally related and presupposed a conceptual space that was neither physically present nor easily identifiable. This absence, she contended, constituted a deviation from the very logic of monumentality.
This paper aims to examine whether, in the context of the blossoming of studies on Constantin Brâncuşi after his death in 1957, such a reading of the Romanian sculptor as an exponent of the modernist paradigm – aligned with studies like Geist’s and attuned to the liberal political agenda of the United States – could serve as a model for other monument sculptors in post-war Europe. Essentially, it aims to investigate what Brâncuşi’s Târgu-Jiu monument signified for artists (such as the Italian Pietro Cascella and the French François Stahly) striving to define a new monumental language after the post-war devaluation of the genre, particularly in the highly polarized climate of the Cold War period.
Dialoghi sulla scultura italiana dell'Ottocento (1815-1915), Seminario, 14-15 settembre 2023, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, 2023
The Vigeland Seminar 2023, Oslo, Sentralen, 12-13 June 2023
Journée des jeunes chercheurs «Sculpture et politique (XIXe-XXIe siècle). Édifier, contester, conserver», Paris, Musée Rodin, 22 April, 2022
Dictionary & Catalogue Entries by Chiara Pazzaglia
"Arte contemporanea per la Carovana. Opere del Centro Pecci di Prato alla Scuola Normale Superiore", a cura di F. Fergonzi, Pisa, Edizioni della Normale, 2023
«Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani», Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana, vol. XCVII, 2020
«Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani», Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana, vol. XCVIII, 2020
«Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani», Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, vol. XCIX , 2020
«Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani», Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, vol. XCVII, 2020
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Papers by Chiara Pazzaglia
Conference Presentations by Chiara Pazzaglia
Krauss, echoing observations by American scholar Sidney Geist, argued that the three elements of Brâncuşi’s complex were only mentally related and presupposed a conceptual space that was neither physically present nor easily identifiable. This absence, she contended, constituted a deviation from the very logic of monumentality.
This paper aims to examine whether, in the context of the blossoming of studies on Constantin Brâncuşi after his death in 1957, such a reading of the Romanian sculptor as an exponent of the modernist paradigm – aligned with studies like Geist’s and attuned to the liberal political agenda of the United States – could serve as a model for other monument sculptors in post-war Europe. Essentially, it aims to investigate what Brâncuşi’s Târgu-Jiu monument signified for artists (such as the Italian Pietro Cascella and the French François Stahly) striving to define a new monumental language after the post-war devaluation of the genre, particularly in the highly polarized climate of the Cold War period.
Dictionary & Catalogue Entries by Chiara Pazzaglia
Krauss, echoing observations by American scholar Sidney Geist, argued that the three elements of Brâncuşi’s complex were only mentally related and presupposed a conceptual space that was neither physically present nor easily identifiable. This absence, she contended, constituted a deviation from the very logic of monumentality.
This paper aims to examine whether, in the context of the blossoming of studies on Constantin Brâncuşi after his death in 1957, such a reading of the Romanian sculptor as an exponent of the modernist paradigm – aligned with studies like Geist’s and attuned to the liberal political agenda of the United States – could serve as a model for other monument sculptors in post-war Europe. Essentially, it aims to investigate what Brâncuşi’s Târgu-Jiu monument signified for artists (such as the Italian Pietro Cascella and the French François Stahly) striving to define a new monumental language after the post-war devaluation of the genre, particularly in the highly polarized climate of the Cold War period.