Between intentionality and critique of reality: Emilio Tadini and pop art

Authors

  • Giacomo Raccis Università degli Studi di Bergamo

Abstract

Emilio Tadini was a painter and a writer among the most interesting of the second half of the twentieth century; however, he became known primarily as a poet and as an art and literary critic. By presenting and commenting on the works of his contemporaries he tested for the first time the poetics of "realismo integrale" (born from phenomenological suggestions), which he would later develop in his creative works. In particular, in the essays written around the mid-sixties and dedicated to American pop art, in journals ("il verri"), magazines ("Successo", "Settimo giorno") and exhibition catalogues (Alternative attuali and Alternative attuali 2), Tadini discussed a mass phenomenon that was revolutionizing the perception of the work of art and took this opportunity to rework its poetics as well, siding with an art that is not content to exhibit the symbols of contemporary culture, but tries to question them.
For this reason, he found the English pop painters – as Hamilton and Hockney – more interesting than the acclaimed Americans. In Tadini’s production – which at that time is part of the activity of "groups" such as the one gathered around Studio Marconi, in Milan (one of the first galleries to promote English pop art in Italy), and that of the journal “Quaderni milanesi” – the urgency of questioning reality translated into a need for narration, considered as the insertion of the scattered fragments of the world within a narrative grid that orders and develops them, while leaving the "possibilities of relationship" always open. Strengthened by this critical and theoretical elaboration, Tadini tested the poetics of "integralità" in literature with the experimental novel Le armi l'amore (1963) and in painting with the cycle of Vita di Voltaire (1966-1968), considered by critics one of his masterpieces.

Author Biography

Giacomo Raccis, Università degli Studi di Bergamo

Giacomo Raccis ha lavorato, come assegnista di ricerca presso l’Università degli Studi Bergamo, a un progetto dedicato alla rappresentazione dell’artista nella narrativa italiana contemporanea e, in precedenza, a un progetto dedicato ai rapporti epistolari tra Giacomo Manzù e gli scrittori del Novecento. Ha studiato a lungo l’opera di Emilio Tadini, di cui ha curato una raccolta di testi critici sull’arte e la letteratura (“Quando l’orologio si ferma il tempo ritorna a vivere". Scritti 1958-1970, il Mulino, 2017) e sul quale ha pubblicato la monografia Una nuova sintassi per il mondo. L’opera letteraria di Emilio Tadini (Quodlibet, 2018). Oltre a portare avanti studi sul rapporto tra scrittura letteraria e arti visive, si occupa di romanzo storico, di letteratura italiana degli anni Zero e di racconto breve, tema sul quale da sei anni coordina un seminario permanente insieme a Nunzia Palmieri. Ha pubblicato La trama (Carocci, 2018). È redattore della rivista online La Balena Bianca.

Published

15-06-2020

How to Cite

Raccis, G. (2020). Between intentionality and critique of reality: Emilio Tadini and pop art. Elephant & Castle, (22). Retrieved from https://elephantandcastle.unibg.it/index.php/eac/article/view/300

Issue

Section

Studi e Ricerche