Emily Braun Livres

Foreword / Roger de Grey -- Introduction / Norman Rosenthal -- Art from Italy / Germano Celant -- Society and culture in the Italy of Giolitti / Adrian Lyttelton -- Divisionism and symbolism in Italy at the turn of the century / Anna Maria Damigella -- Conceptual gesture and enclosed form : Italian sculpture of the early twentieth century / Jole De Sanna -- The violent urge towards modernity : Futurism and the international avant-garde / Ester Coen -- Modigliani, the cosmopolitan Italian / Carlo Bertelli -- De Chirico and Savinio : the theory and icongraphy of metaphysical painting / Paolo Baldacci -- De Chirico, metaphysical painting and the international avant-garde : twelve theses / Wieland Schmied

The unexpected encounter of a rubber glove, a green ball and the head from the classical statue of the Apollo Belvedere gives rise to one of the most compelling paintings in the history of modernist art: Giorgio de Chirico's "The Song of Love" (1914). De Chirico made his career in Paris in the years before World War I, combining his nostalgia for ancient Mediterranean culture with his fascination for the curios found in Parisian shop windows. Beloved by the Surrealists, this uncanny image exemplifies de Chirico's radical "metaphysical" painting, which creates a disturbing sense of unreality, outside logical space and time, through the novel depiction of ordinary things. Emily Braun's essay explores the sources behind the work's enigmatic motifs, its influence on avant-garde painters and poets, and its continuing ability to captivate viewers as de Chirico intended, even a century after it was made.

Exploring the innovative perspectives of Cubism, the book delves into the lesser-known elements of the artistic contributions of Picasso, Braque, and Gris. It presents a fresh interpretation that enhances the understanding of their work and the movement itself, shedding light on the complexities and nuances that have often been overlooked.