Sogno e realtà: Italian Orientalist Painting

In the catalogue to the Seconda Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Coloniale in Naples in 1934, the artistic commissioner, Michele Biancale – referring to a retrospective exhibition featuring works by Alberto Pasini and Domenico Morelli, among others – insisted that arte coloniale, based on direct experience, was concrete and ‘verista’, whereas arte orientalista, obeying the romantic imagination, belonged to the realm of fantasy. The conception of these categories as mutually exclusive has had longstanding implications. Addressing critical reception, museum display, and postcolonial reckoning, or lack of it, this lecture reconsiders paintings by Pasini, Morelli, and Aldo Pagliacci.

This seminar is the third event of the research seminar series “Colonial Objects and the Museum”. The lecture series explores the circulation of colonial objects and their relationship with the museum in a diachronic perspective. Focusing on objects ranging from looted artifacts to works of art produced in colonial contexts, the series addresses issues of artistic exchange, diplomatic controversy, restitution, archival practice, and display. Involving scholars and curators, the series aims to promote a transnational discussion on colonialisms and decolonial theories and practices.

Peter Benson Miller: Curator at the Fondazione Nicola Del Roscio, Miller teaches for the Masters of Art program at LUISS Business School, in Rome. From 2013 to 2019, he was the Andrew Heiskell Arts Director at the American Academy in Rome. His essays on Orientalist painting have appeared in numerous peer-reviewed journals and exhibition catalogues. His book, Americans in Postwar Rome: Art and Cultural Exchange, is forthcoming from Bloomsbury Visual Arts.

Please follow the event online through our VIMEO CHANNEL with this link: https://vimeo.com/event/4257152

Scientific Organization: Carmen Belmonte, Research Unit: Decolonizing Italian Visual and Material Culture