Scuola romana or Scuola di via Cavour was a 20th-century

art movement An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific common philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a specific period of time, (usually a few months, years or decades) or, at least, with the heyday of the movement defin ...

defined by a group of painters within

Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it ra ...

and active in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

between 1928 and 1945, and with a second phase in the mid-1950s.

Birth of the movement

In November 1927, artists Antonietta Raphaël and

Mario Mafai Mario Mafai (12 February 1902 – 31 March 1965) was an Italian painter. With his wife Antonietta Raphaël he founded the modern art movement called the Scuola Romana, or Roman school. Biography Mafai left school very early, preferring to at ...

moved to No. 325 of Roman street '' via Cavour'', in a Savoyan palace subsequently demolished in 1930 in order to allow the

fascist Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...

construction of the ''New Empire Way'' (currently the

via dei Fori Imperiali The Via dei Fori Imperiali (formerly ''Via dei Monti'', then ''Via dell'Impero'') is a road in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, that runs in a straight line from the Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum. Its course takes it over parts of the Fo ...

). The apartment's larger room was transformed into a

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...

. Within a short time, this studio became a meeting point for literati such as

Enrico Falqui Enrico Falqui (12 October 1901 – 16 March 1974) was an Italian writer and literary critic. Biography Enrico Falqui was born in Frattamaggiore, a small market town on the northern fringes of Naples. Gaetano and Angelina Carlomagno Falqui, his p ...

Giuseppe Ungaretti Giuseppe Ungaretti (; 8 February 1888 – 2 June 1970) was an Italian modernist poet, journalist, essayist, critic, academic, and recipient of the inaugural 1970 Neustadt International Prize for Literature. A leading representative of the experim ...

Libero de Libero Libero is an Italian word meaning "free". It can refer to: People: * Libero (given name) * Libero, codename of World War II partisan leader Riccardo Fedel (1906-1944) Vehicles: * Hyundai Libero, a series of light trucks * Mitsubishi Libero, th ...

Leonardo Sinisgalli Leonardo Sinisgalli (1908–1981) was an Italian poet and art critic active from the 1930s to the 1970s. Sinisgalli was born in Montemurro, Basilicata. His early education and careers led to him being called the "engineer poet". In 1925, Sinisg ...

, as well as young artists

Scipione ''Scipione'' ( HWV 20), also called ''Publio Cornelio Scipione'', is an opera seria in three acts, with music composed by George Frideric Handel for the Royal Academy of Music in 1726. The librettist was Paolo Antonio Rolli. Handel composed ''S ...

Renato Marino Mazzacurati Renato Marino Mazzacurati (22 July 1907 – 18 September 1969) was an Italian painter and sculptor belonging to the modern movement of the ''Scuola romana (Roman School)'', of eclectic styles and able within his career span to represent the a ...

, and

Corrado Cagli Corrado Cagli (1910–1976) was an Italian painter of Jewish heritage, who lived in the United States during World War II. Life Cagli was born in Ancona but he moved with his family to Rome in 1915 at the age of five. In 1927, he made his a ...

Contraposition to the sensibility of the Return to Order Movement

The spontaneous confluence of artists at the via Cavour studio does not appear to have been led by true and proper programmes or

manifesto A manifesto is a published declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. A manifesto usually accepts a previously published opinion or public consensus or promotes a ...

s, but rather by friendship, cultural syntheses and a singular pictorial cohesion. With their firm approach to European

expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it ra ...

, they formally contraposed the solid and orderly painting of neoclassic character, promoted by the ''

Return to order The return to order (French: ''retour à l'ordre'') was a European art movement that followed the First World War, rejecting the extreme avant-garde art of the years up to 1918 and taking its inspiration from classical art instead. The movement w ...

'' current in the 1920s, which was particularly strong in the Italian sensibility of post-

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. The first identification of this artistic group should be attributed to

Roberto Longhi Roberto Longhi (28 December 1890 – 3 June 1970) was an Italian academic, art historian, and curator. The main subjects of his studies were the painters Caravaggio and Piero della Francesca. Early life and career Longhi was born in December 18 ...

, who wrote:in ''L'Italia Letteraria (Literary Italy)'' of 7 April 1929. and added: Longhi used this definition to indicate the special work he perceived these artists to be performing within the

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radi ...

universe, breaking off from official art movements.In the journal ''L'Italia Letteraria'' of 14 April 1929, where a concomitance with

Marc Chagall Marc Chagall; russian: link=no, Марк Заха́рович Шага́л ; be, Марк Захаравіч Шагал . (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with se ...

is also mentioned. Carlolevi

During those years, painter

too used the appellative of ''Scuola romana''. His critique does not linger on name identification for the "''nuovi pittori romani (new Roman painters)''" animating this new movement. Cagli described a spreading sensitivity and spoke of an ''Astro di Roma (Roman Star)'', affirming that was the real poetic basis of the "new Romans" : thus highlighting the complex and articulated Roman situation, as opposed to what Cagli called the imperating

Neoclassicism Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism ...

of the

Novecento Italiano Novecento Italiano () was an Italian artistic movement founded in Milan in 1922 to create an art based on the rhetoric of the fascism of Mussolini. History Novecento Italiano was founded by Anselmo Bucci (1887–1955), Leonardo Dudreville (1885 ...

. The ''Scuola romana'' offered a wild painting style, expressive and disorderly, violent and with warm ochre and maroon tones. The formal rigour was replaced by a distinctly expressionist visionariness.

, for instance, brought to life a sort of ''

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

'', where often decadent landscapes appear of Rome's historical

centre, populated by

priests A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

and

cardinals Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

, seen with a vigorously expressive and hallucinated eye. Similar themes were present in Raffaele Frumenti's paintings in the second season of the Scuola, with vivid red hues and soft brush strokes.

Second Season of the Scuola Romana

After 1930, instead of dying out, the ''Scuola Romana'' continued with various other artists of a "second season", which developed during the 1930s and matured soon after World War II. Among them were

Roberto Melli Roberto Melli (1885–1958) was an Italian painter and sculptor to the ''Scuola Romana'', and active in Ferrara and Rome. Short biography Born in Ferrara from a Jewish family of traders, in his twenties Melli moved to Genoa to start an apprent ...

Giovanni Stradone Giovanni Stradone or Giovanni Stradóne (10 November 1911, in Nola – 6 February 1981, in Rome) was an Italian painter. He was a figurative painter who worked in a personal expressionist style.Renato Marino Mazzacurati Renato Marino Mazzacurati (22 July 1907 – 18 September 1969) was an Italian painter and sculptor belonging to the modern movement of the ''Scuola romana (Roman School)'', of eclectic styles and able within his career span to represent the a ...

Guglielmo Janni Guglielmo Janni (1892–1958) was an Italian painter belonging to the modern movement of the ''Scuola romana (Roman School)''. Biography Son of a renowned Roman family – his father Giuseppe was a lawyer and his mother Teresa Belli was the niece ...

Renzo Vespignani Renzo Vespignani (1924 - 26 April 2001)"Francis Bacon" (list of biographies), 2001, ''KLEINOS edizione d'arte'' (Italian translated), webpage:. was an Italian painter, printmaker and illustrator. "Obituaries - Hiroshi Teshigahara, Renzo Vespig ...

and the so-called ''tonalists'' led by

Carlo Levi Carlo Levi () (29 November 1902 – 4 January 1975) was an Italian painter, writer, activist, communist, and doctor. He is best known for his book '' Cristo si è fermato a Eboli'' (''Christ Stopped at Eboli''), published in 1945, a memoir of ...

Emanuele Cavalli Emanuele Cavalli (1904–1981) was an Italian painter belonging to the modern movement of the Scuola Romana (Roman School). He was also a renowned photographer, who experimented with new techniques since the 1930s. Biography The son of Apulian la ...

and Capogrossi, all gravitating around the activities of the "

Galleria della Cometa Galleria may refer to Shopping centres named ''Galleria'' Australia * Galleria Shopping Centre (Perth), Morley, Western Australia * Galleria Shopping Centre (Melbourne), Melbourne, Victoria Canada * Allen Lambert Galleria, Toronto, Ontario * ...

”. Later members included personalities such as

Fausto Pirandello Fausto Calogero Pirandello (17 June 1899 – 30 November 1975) was an Italian painter belonging to the modern movement of the ''Scuola romana (Roman School)''. He was the son of Nobel laureate Luigi Pirandello. Biography After a short experienc ...

(son of Nobel Prize

Luigi is a fictional character featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario, Nintendo's masc ...

Renato Guttuso Renato Guttuso (26 December 1911 – 18 January 1987) was an Italian painter and politician. His best-known works include ''Flight from Etna'' (1938–39), ''Crucifixion'' (1941) and ''La Vucciria'' (1974). Guttuso also designed for the theatre ( ...

, the brothers

Afro The afro is a hair type created by natural growth of kinky hair, or specifically styled with chemical curling products by individuals with naturally curly or straight hair.Garland, Phyl"Is The Afro On Its Way Out?" ''Ebony'', February 1973. ...

and

Mirko Basaldella Mirko Basaldella (28 September 1910 – 24 November 1969) was an Italian sculptor and painter. Early life and education Mirko was born in Udine, Italy on September 28, 1910, the second of three brothers ( Dino was the eldest, and Afro the younge ...

Leoncillo Leonardi Leoncillo Leonardi (18 November 1915 – 3 September 1968), commonly known as Leoncillo, was an Italian sculptor who worked principally in glazed ceramics, often large-scale, and often using vivid colours. Until the mid-1950s his work was mostl ...

, Raffaele Frumenti,

Sante Monachesi Sante Monachesi (1910–1991), was an Italian painter belonging to the modern movement of the ''Scuola romana (Roman School)'' and founder in 1932 of the ''Movimento Futurista nelle Marche (Futurist Movement of Marche)''. Life and career Mona ...

, Giovanni Omiccioli and

Toti Scialoja Toti or TOTI may refer to: * Amanzimtoti, a coastal town in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa * Twilight of the Innocents, an album by the band Ash (band), Ash * Toti (footballer) (b. 1987), Spanish footballer, full name Daniel García Pérez * Tote Gom ...

Museum of the Scuola Romana

The Villa Torlonia in Rome hosts, in its classic "Casino Nobile", the renowned Museums of Villa Torlonia,Se
Musei Torlonia
and the porta
Museums of Rome
which include virtual tours. part of the Museum System of the Comune di Roma: on its 2nd floor one can visit the ''Museum of the Scuola Romana'', offering a comprehensive view of this art movement.

Bibliography

*Giorgio Castelfranco and Dario Durbé, ''La Scuola Romana dal 1930 al 1945'', Rome, De Luca, 1960 *Maurizio Fagiolo Dell'Arco, ''Scuola Romana: Pittura e scultura a Roma dal 1919 al 1943'', Rome, De Luca, 1986 *Maurizio Fagiolo Dell'Arco, Valerio Rivosecchi and Emily Braun, ''Scuola Romana: Artisti tra le due guerre'', Milan, Mazzotta, 1988

Birth of the movement

Contraposition to the sensibility of the Return to Order Movement

Second Season of the Scuola Romana

Museum of the Scuola Romana

See also

Bibliography

Notes

External links