7.2 Belgian artists and Italy, a brief state of the art
The story of the cultural and artistic relationships between Belgium and Italy in the long nineteenth century has only partially been written. Although specialists such as Christine Dupont, Giuseppina Del Canton and Martina Carraro1 have investigated the role of Italy in the careers of Belgian artists, their relationships with Italian exhibitions and cultural networks, much work remains to be done. This is especially true for symbolism.
Notwithstanding its complexities and the ongoing controversies on its protagonists and chronology, in what follows symbolism is understood as a fluid artistic phenomenon or ‘nebulose’ in the international artworld between 1886 and 1900. Its artists belonged notably to occult circles, without a predefined style or aesthetics, but with some features in common such as anti-materialism and anti-positivism, and they held changing attitudes towards style, spiritualism, or connections to literature.2
The main reasons for the aforementioned lack of attention to symbolism is likely the scarcity of primary sources, which were destroyed or have otherwise disappeared, or have fallen into private hands. Fortunately, exhibition catalogues, magazines of the period and some administrative correspondence can help to reconstruct part of this neglected history, together with iconographic materials, such as photos and, of course, the artworks themselves. This article builds (partly) on these materials.
In the second half of the nineteenth century, the importance of the young Italian nation in matters of modern art was waning. From a foreign perspective, the country was increasingly associated with academic practice and the official Prix de Rome. In the 1890s a group of young Belgian artists turned against this trend and praised Italy’s glorious past, which inspired them to make new idealist paintings. Furthermore, at the same time, during the so-called era giolittiana, the Italian government started an exhibition campaign in line with the period’s nationalistic tendencies [2]. In these events, starting from the first edition of the Venice Biennale in 1895, Belgian artists and organizers would have an important part [3].3
2
Anonymous,
Portrait of Giovanni Giolitti, ca. 1905, 20 x 25 cm.
3
Anonymous,
Poster of the First Edition of the Venice Biennale in 1895