1918-2018: one hundred years ago, the Great War ended, leaving behind the roar of bombs, an immense theatre of rubble and the senselessness of a carnage of staggering proportions. In Italy too, thousands of sons, fathers, husbands and brothers died or were wounded. Thousands of workers and professionals, minds and arms taken from an economy struck in the heart. And artists, teachers, students and intellectuals also went to the front. Some by choice, out of an interventionist vocation, out of a sense of honour, many out of obedience and with no way out. With art once again intersecting with life, the destinies of a country, moral and cultural codes, politics and the ambitions of power.
The Academy of Fine Arts in Rome is also taking part in the celebrations for the centenary of that epilogue. And it does so with an exhibition designed to showcase the wealth of documents in its Historical Archive, all related to professors and students who took part in the First World War: Cambellotti, Sironi, Sartorio, Fratino, Costantini, Oppo… A corpus of works of art and then letters, certificates, postcards, photographs, catalogues, registers…
Underpinning it is a complex archival and research effort, for a project produced by the Academy and curated by Professors Barbara de Iudicibus and Francesca Longo.
“L’ACCADEMIA IN GUERRA. Artisti, docenti e studenti nel primo conflitto mondiale” is curated by Barbara de Iudicibus and Francesca Longo. Open to visitors until 6 December 2018. Monday to Saturday, 10 am-6 pm, Via di Ripetta 222 / Colleoni Hall.