"Guttuso, 'Guernica', Gramsci"

Like many of his left-wing contemporaries, Guttuso found in Guernica a language with which to confront the violence of his time, from Fascism and the Nazi occupation, to the era of Christian Democracy and the Cold War. This seminar examines Guttuso's sustained dialogue with Guernica in his own art of protest. His repeated citation of Guernica is read in light of the symbolic strategy and cultural policies of the Communist Party in post-war Italy, which were closely informed by Antonio Gramsci's concept of the national-popular. In tracing the connections between Guttuso, Guernica, and Gramsci, this paper seeks to shed light on the role of art in Communist constructions of history.

Lara Pucci is Assistant Professor in Art History at the University of Nottingham. Her research focuses on art and visual culture in twentieth-century Italy, especially within the contexts of the Fascist regime, and the Italian Communist Party.