Please, join us for this last seminar, by Professor Valerio Terraroli (University of Verona). Please, note that the presentation will be in Italian.
Il fenomeno dell'Art Déco
Valerio Terraroli (University of Verona)
Venue: SLC Common Room, Level 5 Brennan MacCallum Building, A18
The University of Sydney, NSW 2006
Date: Wednesday 5th November
Time: 15:00-16:30
Zoom link: https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/j/84501748918
Che cosa ci si riferisce quando definiamo una ceramica, un vetro, un ambiente o un arredo come déco? Se si dovesse sintetizzare in un unico sostantivo la specificità del gusto déco bisognerebbe scegliere il termine glamour, inteso nell'accezione di stile, di fascino, ma combinato ad un atteggiamento snobistico, caratterizzato da un erotismo algido e ambiguo, sinonimo di un’assoluta eleganza e, quindi, per definizione qualcosa di inimitabile, ma che nutre e influenza il gusto comune. In occasione del centenario (2025) dell’ Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes di Parigi, evento che codificò lo “Stile 1925” o Art Déco, questo seminario traccia la storia dello stile Déco e del suo linguaggio visivo nato dalle Secessioni austro-tedesche, affermatosi tra il 1910 e il primo dopoguerra, il suo arrivo negli Stati Uniti, diventando simbolo glamour degli anni Trenta, e segnando il trionfo delle arti decorative italiane, dando così origine al concetto di “Made in Italy” e a una nuova estetica internazionale.
(The Art Dèco Phenomenon. What exactly do we mean when we describe a ceramic piece, a glass object, an interior, or a piece of furniture as “Déco”? If we had to capture the essence of the Déco aesthetic in a single word, it would be glamour—not just in the sense of style and allure, but also with a touch of snobbery, marked by a cool, ambiguous eroticism and an unmistakable elegance. It is something unique and inimitable, yet it shapes and influences mainstream taste. To mark the centenary of the Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes held in Paris in 1925—which defined the “1925 Style” or Art Déco—this seminar explores the history of the Déco style and its visual language. Originating from the Austro-German Secession movements, Déco flourished between 1910 and the post–World War I period, later crossing the Atlantic to become a glamorous symbol of 1930s America. It also marked a turning point for Italian decorative arts, laying the foundation for the “Made in Italy” brand and a new international aesthetic).
Valerio Terraroli is a Full Professor of History of Art Criticism, Museology, History of Taste, and Decorative Arts at the University of Verona, where he is the Director of the “Rossana Bossaglia” Research Center for Decorative Arts, Graphic Arts, and Arts from the 18th to the 20th century. His research focuses on late 19th-century painting and sculpture, Symbolist and late Symbolist artistic culture, and Liberty, Déco, and Novecento styles in Italy. Between 2005 and 2010, he edited the five-volume series Arte del XX secolo (Skira). In 2012, he published the five-volume art history manual ARTE (Rizzoli/Bompiani and Skira), and in 2022, L’occhio dell’arte (Rizzoli – Mondadori). In recent years, he has curated exhibitions and catalogues on Italian painting of the 1920s and 1930s, including Realismo Magico. L’incanto della pittura italiana negli anni Venti e Trenta (MaRT, Rovereto; Ateneum Museum, Helsinki; Folkwang Museum, Essen, 2017–2019); Realismo magico. Uno stile italiano, Milan, Palazzo Reale (2021–2022); Galileo Chini. Ceramiche tra Liberty e Déco, Faenza, International Museum of Ceramics M.I.C. (2022–2023); Galileo Chini e le Terme Berzieri, Salsomaggiore Terme (2023); and finally Art Déco. Il trionfo della modernità, Milan, Palazzo Reale (2025).