Milton Gendel. Un fotografo, critico d’arte e scrittore tra avanguardia e tradizione.(1949 -1962)
Author(s)
Drudi, Barbara
Date Issued
November 28, 2014
Type
Doctoral Thesis
Abstract
Through the analysis of archival material and cataloging of Photography - donated by Milton
Gendel to the Primoli Foundation of Rome in 2011 - my dissertation offers an historical
reconstruction of the singular artist and American intellectual and cultural situation in Rome from
1949 to 1962.
American by birth and cultural Milton Gendel, born in 1918, chose Rome as his adopted home
since December 1949, establishing the capital not only his home, but the perfect place for his work
as a photographer and art critic . Friend of artists and intellectuals, aristocrats and major collectors,
Gendel can rightly be considered a central figure in the artistic and intellectual in Rome from the
fifties to the present.
The thesis focuses, therefore, on a decade 1949- 1962, which circumscribes as we have said, one
of the most interesting and significant of Italian culture in the second half of the twentieth century.
However, to give a more complete spectrum of creative work of Gendel I devoted the first chapter
to the formation in New York, which took place mainly in the 'surrealist', and the first
photographic experiences in China.
I have discussed briefly the history of the great interest in photography born in the United States
in the twentieth century and of the influence that visual context had on the formation of Gendel.
In the second and most extensive chapter wrote about the arrival of Gendel in Rome and the
inclusion in the artistic world of the capital. Milton Gendel from his first months in Rome in fact -
beginning in 1950 - had been in contact with the creative community, attending the famous
'restaurants' and bars between Piazza del Popolo and Via del Babuino. Gendel entertained friendly
relations and cooperation with young artists like Dorazio, Perilli, Scialoja, Burri, Tancredi, Tot. But
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at the same time was introduced in the ‘salotti’ of the more 'enlightened' Italian and international,
establishing a strong bond of friendship and cooperation Mimi with the Countess Pecci Blunt.
In particular, I have dedicated a section of Gendel friendship with Peggy Guggenheim, and the
photographs are unique and inspiring Gendel keeps her in his vast archive.
Among Americans then Gendel was a friend of painters such as Robert Motherwell, Willem de
Kooning, Robert Rauschenberg, Mark Rothko, Philip Guston, Alexander Calder; all artists who had
known and popular in the forties in New York and with whom he remained in contact for many
years.
Under this second chapter is also remembered as Rome became in those fifties an important
arena for artistic creativity and more generally for the dissemination of culture, offering a
reinterpretation of some significant pieces of literature devoted to the charm of the capital.
In those years not only Gendel, but many other artists and intellectuals, chose Rome as the
residence: there are in fact other artists in the capital as the Italian-American painter Marca-Relli
arrived in Rome in 1948; Matta who came from New York in 1949. Matta, although it was the
Chilean had lived in the middle of the New York surrealist and early Abstract Expressionist and had
exported to Italy echoes and suggestions. In 1952 he had arrived Rauschenberg and Cy Twombly;
in 1959 and lived there for a long time de Kooning. On the other side, African had established a
close relationship with America, Scialoja was fascinated by the Action Painting, Dorazio had
married an American photographer and lived overseas for several years.
The work continues with an analysis of photographs taken by Gendel in Sicily - while traveling
with the American photographer Marjory Collins (1950) - and in Puglia (1954); evocative images
and documentary at the same time. Photos are characterized by a vision of the 'neo-realism' tipical
of Gendel, and I tried to put these images compared to the Italian Neorealism photo. Beside the
photographs, my thesis explores the aspect of Gendel art critic, the third chapter is devoted to the
intense collaboration with the magazine 'ARTnews', particularly in the years between 1954 and
1962. I then made a filing of articles published in Art News, recomposing a complete bibliography.
I also examined the occasional collaborations with Italian magazines such as "Space", making only
a few references to "Tempo Presente” e 'Il Messaggero”. Gendel on writing about art has given a
substantial contribution to a new understanding of the criticism, particularly with its well-known
items "Burri Makes a picture" and "Scialoja paints a picture" based on a report attentive and faithful
to the facts, rather than interpretive or 'metaphysics'.
A particularly important has been given to the experience of Group of the Tiber (1955),
supported by Emilio Villa. An emblematic artistic situation of the art world and of the time of the
Fifties.
I have analyzed other articles by Gendel in Rome, especially his writings on the galleries of the
Obelisk, La Salita, La Tartaruga, L’Attico. Finally, I proposed a section 'Appendix' in which are
some significant letters of Thomas B. Hess - Director of ARTnews - to Gendel.
The last chapter is devoted to Rome -New York Art Foundation (1957-1962). The gallery Rome -
New York Art Foundation was born in Rome at Palazzo Caetani Pierleonis on the Tiber Island in
1957 following a decision by Frances McCann. Painter, photographer and a great friend of Peggy
Guggenheim, McCann was able to create a place where they could live and original international
languages of the new abstract painting. The gallery was - between 1957 and 1962- one of the most
important places for cultural and artistic exchanges between Rome and New York and allowed the
spread of a new idea of the circulation of works of art.
Among the artists represented in the nine exhibitions: Capogrossi, Glue, Accardi, Burri,
Consagra to De Kooning, Kline, Tobey, Fountain, Pollock, Brand Relli, Falkenstein, Appel,
Mathieu and Riopelle.
Parallel to the work of rebuilding the historic context, my thesis is accompanied by the onset of
cataloging photographs, always focus on the decade in question. The properties of the photographic
Gendel is Primoli Foundation, which received a donation from Gendel in exchange for the loan for
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an apartment on the first floor of the building in Via Zanardelli Primoli where Gendel was able to
arrange his studio and his entire collection of art and objects. The number of photographs of
Gendel, including negatives and digital images is about 72,000. For obvious reasons, my
classification is limited to 398 images scanned and loaded on a specific program implemented by
the Foundation Primoli, following the progression of existing numerical and chronological order of
the negatives in the archive To make the start of the cataloging was created a program of "cards"
designed specifically for the Fund Gendel but a continuation of the program of cataloging existing
and available on line photographs of Count Giuseppe Primoli made by the Foundation that bears his
name.
This card model includes, in addition to the usual items of finding work, a number of "fields"
available to track the images and classify them according to different desired orders: subject,
location, theme and so on. .
Each card has also, of course, a number of digital inventory reported in this new catalog, which lays
the foundation for future use of the material in the network.
Additional information
Dottorato di ricerca in Memoria e materia delle opere d'arte
attraverso i processi di produzione, storicizzazione,
conservazione, musealizzazione
attraverso i processi di produzione, storicizzazione,
conservazione, musealizzazione
Subjects
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