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One of the leaders of Novecento Italiano, Mario Sironi, was born in Sassari, Sardinia on May 12, 1885. Founded in 1922 by 7 artists鈥揃ucci, Dudreville, Funi, Malerba, Masussig, Oppi, and Sironi鈥搕he movement grew to include more than 100 artists by the end of the decade. Guided by the ideas of Margherita Sarfetti the group intentionally moved away from the 鈥渧iolence鈥� of the avante-garde and from contemporary metaphysical interests to focus instead on 鈥渘aturalistic features.鈥� (Bossaglia). Their subject matter showed a concern with subjects that promoted 鈥渕oral health鈥� including an interest in family, love of the domestic and rural life, as well as tradition. (Bossaglia) These ideas continued to grow in popularity with the rise of 鈥渕oral hygiene鈥� initiatives embraced by authoritarian regimes.
Sironi鈥檚 career started with a brief course of study at the University of Rome; by 1906 he was in Paris and rooming with . In 1914 he was associated with Futurism and exhibited with the group until the rise of Novecento Italiano.
From 1921 to 1943, Sironi executed caricatures for the Fascist paper, Popolo d鈥橧talia. In her discussion of his graphic work, Emily Braun notes that contemporary critics 鈥渃onsidered Sironi鈥檚 political cartoons to be the only true expression of Fascist style.鈥�
Sironi died on August 13, 1961 having lived out the post-war years in 鈥渟elf-imposed isolation鈥� (Braun). In 2018, the in Pordenone mounted a retrospective of Sironi鈥檚 work that focused only on his work between 1913 to 1924 or from Futurism to Classicism.
References: Benzi, Fabio & Francesco Leone, eds. Mario Sironi dal Futurismo al Classicismo 1913-1924. Milan: Silvana Editoriale, 2018; Bossaglia, Rossana. Translated by Howard Rodger MacLean. 鈥淭he Iconography of the Italian Novecento in the European Context.鈥� Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts. Vol.3 (Winter 1987): 52-65; Braun, Emily. 鈥�.鈥� Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press.
Images:
Composizione or Composizione e figure (1957) (, )
Photograph of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Antonio Sant’Elia, unknown figure, Mario Sironi and Umberto Boccioni (1916) ()
Great Hall of the University of Rome with L鈥橧talia tra le Arti e le Scienze (1935) ()
Further Reading: Emily Braun, . Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000; Baldacci, Paolo. . New York: Rizzoli, 1990.