Double-Edged Comforts: Domestic Life in Modern Italian Art and Visual Culture

This book explores Italian domestic experiences from the 1940s to the 1970s, revealing contrasting and often contradictory meanings. Silvia Bottinelli highlights the overlooked and taken-for-granted aspects of domestic life, finding new expressions of home in various cultural and artistic movements. She discusses artworks that have fallen through the cracks of established art historical narratives and emphasizes women's perspectives, discussing artists who were often marginalized by the Italian art system. The book provides a fresh account of modern domesticity and how art complicates our familiar comforts and meanings of home.

Format: Hardback
Length: 296 pages
Publication date: 21 January 2021
Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press

This captivating book delves into the untold story of Italian domestic experiences from the 1940s to the 1970s, offering a unique perspective through the eyes of artists and image-makers. As we explore the intricate tapestry of this era, we are met with a complex interplay of emotions, from the trauma of World War II to the exuberant optimism of the postwar decades. Haunted by the echoes of fascism, the domestic realm becomes a canvas for contrasting and often contradictory meanings. Silvia Bottinelli sheds light on the overlooked and taken-for-granted aspects of domestic life, unveiling fresh expressions of home as an idea, an emotion, a space, and a set of habits. Through a comprehensive examination of various cultural and artistic movements, including new realism, visual poetry, pop art, arte povera, and radical architecture, Bottinelli uncovers new ways of understanding and experiencing the home.

Double-Edged Comforts takes a nuanced approach by engaging in a dialogue with contemporaneous visual culture. It explores the advertisements, commercials, illustrations, and popular magazines that influenced and informed art, shaping it both materially and critically. Bottinelli pays particular attention to women's perspectives, discussing artworks that have fallen through the cracks of established art historical narratives and highlighting the contributions of women artists who were often marginalized by the Italian art system during this period.

From sleeping and bathing to chores and making and eating food, Double-Edged Comforts provides a fresh account of modern domesticity that resonates with anyone interested in understanding how we make sense of the places we live and what we do there. By complicating the familiar comforts and meanings of home, art reveals the complexities and contradictions of our lived experiences. This book serves as a valuable resource for scholars, artists, and anyone seeking to deepen their understanding of the intersection of art, culture, and domestic life.

Weight: 1262g
Dimension: 288 x 263 x 29 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780228004103