Fascists, and the Women Who Love Them

Vincere (dir. Marco Bellocchio) tells the story of the woman who may or may not be

Benito Mussolini's first wife, Ida Dalser. The film, set within the backdrop of

Italy at a time of deep social and political revolution, reveals the volatile love

affair between the two, and its repercussions as they play out amidst Mussolini's

rise to power (Dalser, who bore a son with Mussolini, left Milan for her native Trento,

where she spent the rest of her life under Fascist party surveillance. She was forcibly interned

at the asylum of Pergine Valsugana, and died in 1936 on the island of San Clemente in Venice.

Her son, Benito Albino Mussolini, died in 1942 at age 26, in an asylum in Mombello, Milan.)

The film, while deliberately focusing on Dalser's story,

masterfully depicts the powerful role

that intellectual movements such as Futurism, as well as celluloid films and propaganda newsreels,

had in shaping the zeitgeist of Fascist-era Italy -- the black, monumental visage

of "Il Duce" looming in the background throughout the last half of the film

as a grim adumbration of the man whose physical presence charged the first half of the film.

Marco Bellocchio remarks on this topic in an interview with Fabio Periera that appeared

in the Huffington Post:

"I think the historical aspect of the story is extremely interesting because I chose to tell a passionate story set at a time of deep social revolution. These deep changes in society were not only that, but there were also changes at the artistic level. In fact, in the film, futurism has a great role. And futurism was an artistic movement that was primarily Italian at the time and Mussolini actually supported that, and the futurist artists all supported fascism later on. Also, it's right in those years that cinema became important and a mass phenomenon. And Mussolini was indeed the first politician in Italy who (understood) the strategic importance of a poltician's image. In this sense, we can draw parallels with prime minister Silvio Berlusconi today."

Vincere, dir. Marco Belloccho, Starring Filippo Timi as Mussolini and Giovanna Mezzogiorno as Ida Dalser

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Prossimamente: Fausto Melotti, "I Magnifici Sette"

Melotti, F. "I Magnifici Sette", 1973. stainless steel; each: 675 x 190 x 160 cm

"Art is an angelic, geometric feeling. It addresses the intellect, not the senses."

--Fausto Melotti

FAUSTO MELOTTI, "I MAGNIFICI SETTE"

GLADSTONE GALLERY

530 W 21ST STREET, NY

MAGGIO - GIUGNO 2010

yum.

Mi fa molto piacere vedere il nome di questa artista -- sconosciuto da tanti negli stati uniti --

insieme al nome della Gladstone Gallery.

Melotti nacque al inizio del novecento, punto al 1901 -- la sua familia di origini musicali.

Da bambino all'accademia studiò la musica, la fisica, e la matematica.

"I Magnifici Sette" si riferisce alle sette categorie degli studi umanistici

preso da greca antica.

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Nautical Sundays.

Step 1:

not to worry, my inner pab..it's a beautiful day in the city.

don antique indigo-striped danish sailor tunic from france.

step 2:

no oysters yet...waiting for the sun to shine stronger...still a tinge of cold in the air.

BLAT's (bacon,lettuce, avocado + tomato) and bloody's at Five Leaves

Step 3:

The Odyssey by Homer, cover design by Coralie Bickford-Smith for Penguin Classics; $20, Word

Sailor's walk and shopping in Greenpoint with Samantha, my tour guide/mermaid

Step 4:

Unwind with Sade

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Spring 2010 Style Guide

Killer Stripes

Josef Hoffmann dress, c. early 20th century.

Agnes Martin in her studio.

Bold Textures

Bronzino, A. Ritratto di Lodovico Capponi, c. 1550-5. oil on poplar panel; 44 7/8 x 33 3/4 in. The Frick Collection, NY.

Dark + Light Looks

both images, Laetitia Casta, Vogue Paris December/January issue, guest edited by Ms. Casta.

España

both paintings, Francisco de Goya y Lucientes

Subtle Decadence

Schad, C. Marcella.

Goya y Lucientes. Teresa de Sureda

Red Highlights

Dix, O. The Dancer Anita Berber, 1925.

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Pure redemption.

Resurrection Ready Glamour.

Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini, L'estasi di Santa Teresa D'Avila

epic folds.

Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present, at MoMA. photo, NY Times.

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A Primary Color.

Alfred Molina as Mark Rothko in Red

"What do you see?" intones the incisive voice of Alfred Molina, brilliantly cast as Mark

Rothko, in the beginning of the current play on Broadway, Red. The bio-dra ma, set in the late 1950's, concerns itself with Seagram Murals created by the artist in the late 1950's, a commission he accepted from Philip Johnson for the Four Seasons Hotel. Furthermore, the play underscores the apprentice-master relationship between Rothko and his young studio assistant, played by a talented Eddie Redmayne.

These were the roaring times of Abstract Expressionism, before the art world knew such figures as the Damien Hirsts, Tracy Emins, and Jeff Koons, yet much of the struggle on-stage reflects issues that are no stretch away from our modern world: authenticity versus the

sell-out. The play also articulates beautifully the transformation of art with the zeitgeist --

as Rothko stands in the canon of great artists during the play, his assistant informs him of the

nascent movement of Pop Art --finding expression with such artists as Frank Stella and Andy Warhol.

Red began its run in London, where the Seagram Murals now reside at the Tate Modern. The murals, which Rothko gave to the museum as a gift, arrived on the morning of February 25, 1970—the same morning that Rothko’s dead body was found in his studio. The artist had sliced open his veins to paint one last crimson mural. In many ways, the Seagram Murals show Rothko’s soul sliced open—a fact that Rothko couldn’t hide and couldn’t envision hanging on a restaurant wall.

Seagram Murals, Tate Modern.

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