Stile Floreale: The Cult of Nature in Italian Design

Univ of Washington Pr [Published date: 1988]. Soft cover, 127 pp [Excerpts from Introduction] The first exhibition of the Italian "Liberty" style opened in Milan in December of 1972. A few months earlier, at the Centre Pirelli, there was an exhibition of architectural drawings from the municipal building files. These activities drew attention and lent credibility to the first studies of "modemism made in Italy," which were done in the sixties. At the time, Europe and the United States renewed their interest in those artists discussed by Mikolaus Pevsner in his celebrated book, Pioneers of the Modem Movement, 1936. While exhibitions and publications were abundant, there was very little written about the Italian production during the Art Pfouveau period. Even when mention was made, no significant information was forthcoming with the exception of L 'Art de 1900 ou Ie Style Jules Veme, Paris, 1965. ... Therefore, the exhibilion Stile Horeale: The Cult of nature in Italian Design and its accompanying catalogue focus much deserved attention on Italy at the turn of the century... In Italy, both Italian and foreign production were generally called "Liberty" after the well-known London house. But the name Stile Floreale was preferred by many, giving a continuity to the Italian tradition from the Renaissance to Modemism. In 1902, the thirteenth-century expression dolce stil novo was applied by some writers to Italian decorative art of the floral style, thus revealing the connection between Stile Floreale and the poetic pre-Raphaelites. It seems to me of historical significance and of refined interpretation that this exhibition held in America, being among the few exhibitions outside of Italy to concentrate on the specific theme of the Italian "Liberty" style, should designate it the Stile Floreale. Rossana Bossaglia Milan