Corrente di Vita was a biweekly Italian culture magazine published between 1938 and 1940.
The Corrente Magazine In 1938 artist Ernesto Treccani founded the magazine Vita Giovanile with the financial backing of his father, Senator Giovanni Treccani. Initially a monthly and then a biweekly publication, the magazine later changed its name to Corrente di Vita Giovanile and finally Corrente.Cf. A. Luzi, ed., Corrente di Vita Giovanile (1938–1940), foreword by Vittorio Sereni, Ateneo Roma (1975) Treccani envisioned the magazine as an independent venture free from the directives of the GUF (University Fascist Group). Corrente quickly became a point of reference for Italian anti-fascist culture in the late 1930s,Cf. "From Vita Giovanile to Corrente 1938–39", in R. Ben-ghiat, Fascist Modernities: Italy, 1922–1945, pp. 168ff., University of California Press (2000). putting forward a democratic alternative to the official guidelines of the Ministry of Popular Culture, and strongly criticizing more regime-aligned art movements such as the Novecento Italiano and late Futurism.R. De Grada, Il movimento di Corrente, Edizioni del Milione, Milano, 1952
On June 10, 1940, the Fascist regime successfully closed Corrente when Italy entered World War II.Statements in E. Treccani, Arte per amore. Scritti e pagine di diario, Feltrinelli, Milano, 1978 After the closure of the magazine, the Corrente editorial activities continued until 1943 with the publication of Edizioni di Corrente – a collection of books that included I lirici greci by Salvatore Quasimodo, I lirici spagnoli by Carlo Bo, Frontiera by Vittorio Sereni, Occhio quadrato by Alberto Lattuada – and with exhibitions at the Bottega di Corrente gallery, in Via della Spiga 9, around which gravitated cultural and political figures in opposition to the government.E. Pontiggia (a cura di), Il movimento di Corrente, Abscondita, Milano, 2012
The Corrente Movement The Corrente Movement covered different fields and disciplines – film, theater, literature, poetry and visual arts – bringing together some of the brightest intellectual forces of the time,E. Crispolti, V. Fagone, C. Ruju (a cura di), Corrente: cultura e società 1938–1942: omaggio a Edoardo Persico 1900–1936, Centro di iniziativa culturale del Mezzogiorno, Napoli, 1979 including Luciano Anceschi, Giulio Carlo Argan, Antonio Banfi, Piero Bigongiari, Luigi Comencini, Raffaele De Grada, Dino Del Bo, Giansiro Ferrata, Carlo Emilio Gadda, Alfonso Gatto, Beniamino Joppolo, Eugenio Montale, Duilio Morosini,Statements in D. Morosini, L’arte degli anni difficili, Editori Riuniti, Roma, 1985 Enzo Paci, Vasco Pratolini, Luigi Rognoni, Umberto Saba, Vittorio Sereni, Giancarlo Vigorelli and Elio Vittorini.
The artists associated to Corrente perpetuated an art replete with humane and moral content, in full opposition to the one supported by the fascist regime.Cf. M. S. Stone, The Patron State: Art and Politics in Fascist Italy, Princeton University Press (1998. They tended decisively towards expressionist visual forms, and referenced the Scuola Romana, as well as European artists such as Vincent van Gogh, James Ensor, Chaïm Soutine and Pablo Picasso, and movements like Fauves, Nabis and Die Brücke. The group organised debates, round-table discussions and exhibitions, bringing in artists like Renato Birolli, Giuseppe Migneco, Bruno Cassinari, Renato Guttuso, Aligi Sassu and Ennio Morlotti.Cf. "From Vita Giovanile to Corrente 1938–39", in R. Ben-ghiat, Fascist Modernities: Italy, 1922–1945, pp. 168ff., University of California Press (2000). In doing so, the Corrente Movement became a hub for a generation of intellectuals and artists who wished to establish an intellectual bridge to Europe, and who saw ethics and the role of the artist in society as the key to a substantial renewal in Italian culture.M. De Micheli, R. De Grada (a cura di), Corrente: il movimento di arte e cultura, Milano, 1985
The Corrente Exhibitions The first Corrente exhibition was held in March 1939 at the Society for Fine Arts and Permanent Exhibition Museum in Milan. It featured works by Renato Birolli,Statements in R. Birolli, Taccuini 1936–1959, a cura di E. Emanuelli, Einaudi, Torino, 1960 Italo Valenti, Arnaldo Badodi, Giuseppe Migneco, Sandro Cherchi, Dino Lanaro, Bruno Cassinari, Alfredo Mantica, Luigi Grosso, Giacomo Manzù, Gabriele Mucchi,Statements in G. Mucchi, Le occasioni perdute: memorie 1899–1993, L'Archivolto, Milano, 1994 Domenico Cantatore, Fiorenzo Tomea, Genni, Filippo Tallone and Gastone Panciera. Some “modernist” exponents of the Milanese art scene such as Carlo Carrà, Arturo Tosi, Ugo Bernasconi, Piero Marussig, Cesare Monti, Arturo Martini, Francesco Messina and Luigi Bartolini were also invited.
The second Corrente exhibition took place in December 1939. Notable additions to the group were Mario Mafai, Nino Franchina, Luigi Broggini, Piero Prampolini, Antonio Filippini, Mauro Reggiani, Giuseppe Santomaso, Orfeo Tamburi, Pericle Fazzini, Mirko Basaldella, Afro Basaldella, Luigi Montanarini, Domenico Caputi, Fausto Pirandello.Z. Birolli, G. Bruno, P. Rusconi, Renato Birolli. Anni trenta Milano e Roma, Archivio di Scuola romana, Roma 1997 Aldo Salvadori, Piero Martina, Sandro Cherchi and Lucio Fontana.
See also Return to order Decadent movement Hermeticists
Notes
Bibliography Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Fascist Modernities: Italy, 1922–1945, University of California Press, Berkeley, (2000) Marla Susan Stone, The Patron State: Art and Politics in Fascist Italy, Princeton University Press, New Jersey, (1998) Roderick Conway Morris, "Italy's Radical Return to Order", in The New York Times, 26 December 1998 Raffaele De Grada, Il movimento di Corrente, Edizioni del Milione, Milan, 1952 Enrico Crispolti, Vittorio Fagone, Cesare Ruju Brandi, Corrente: cultura e società 1938–1942: omaggio a Edoardo Persico 1900–1936, Centro di Iniziativa Culturale del Mezzogiorno, Naples, 1979 Elena Pontiggia, Il movimento di Corrente, Abscondita, Milan, 2012 Giovannella Desideri, Antologia della rivista "Corrente", with contributions by Ernesto Treccani, Giansiro Ferrata and Alberto Lattuada, Guida, Naples, 1979 Ernesto Treccani, Arte per amore. Scritti e pagine di diario, Feltrinelli, Milan, 1978 Duilio Morosini, L’arte degli anni difficili, Editori Riuniti, Rome, 1985 Mario De Micheli, Raffaele De Grada, Corrente: il movimento di arte e cultura, Milan, 1985 Gabriele Mucchi, Le occasioni perdute: memorie 1899–1993, L'Archivolto, Milan, 1994 Renato Guttuso, Mestiere di pittore, De Donato editore, Bari, 1972 Zeno Birolli, Gianfranco Bruno, Annamaria Brizio, Paolo Rusconi, Renato Birolli. Anni trenta Milano e Roma, Archivio di Scuola Romana, Rome, 1997 Raffaele De Grada, La grande stagione, Anthelios, Milan, 2001
External links Tate Gallery on Corrente artists, Accessed 29 May 2011 Tate Gallery on Corrente artists, Accessed 30 May 2011 Il Movimento di Corrente, article on Fondazione Corrente. Accessed 30 May 2011 Article on Renato Birolli , by M. Maugini. Accessed 30 May 2011 Review on Renato Guttuso Accessed 30 May 2011 Accessed 30 May 2011 Voce Glossario, on Babelearte.it. Accessed 29 May 2011 Da Valori Plastici a Corrente, on Italica Rai. Accessed 29 May 2011