The Art of Objects: The Birth of Italian Industrial Culture, 1878-1928 (Toronto Italian Studies)

By: Luca Cottini

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Synopsis: The Art of Objects is a cultural history of early Italian industrialism, set against the political, social, and intellectual background of post-unification Italy, and a cutting-edge investigation of the formation of Italy’s industrial culture at the turn of the 20th century. By adopting the unusual perspective of several objects of mass consumption, such as watches, photographs, bicycles, gramophones, cigarettes, and toys, author Luca Cottini examines their transformation from commercial items into aesthetic and philosophical icons. By focusing on the cultural significance of these objects, as they enter the market and appear in contemporary works of art and literature, The Art of Objects outlines a more comprehensive view of the age between the unification of Italy and Fascism, encompassing production and consumption, aesthetics and entrepreneurship, industry and the humanistic tradition. The observation of the slow formation of new languages, forms, practices, and experiences around these objects also provides an early documentation of the creative laboratory of Italy’s industrial culture. By reconstructing the origins of the Italian culture of design, the book ultimately investigates Italy’s critical reception of industrialism, the nation’s so-called “imperfect” modernization, and its ongoing quest for an original way to modernity.