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Casa mediterranea , casa araba and primitivism in the writings of Carlo Enrico Rava

2008; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 13; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13602360802327745

1466-4410

Brian L. McLaren,

Urban Planning and Landscape Design

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes P. Marconi, ‘Architettura minima mediterranea e architettura moderna’, Architettura e Arti Decorative, 9,1 (September, 1929), p. 44. Ibid., p. 30. Sigfried Giedion connects modern architecture to a new concept, space-time, which emphasises contemporary ideas over historical — and especially vernacular — references: S. Giedion, Space, Time and Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition (Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press, 1949). For a contemporary revision of this view, see Á. Moravánszky, Competing Visions: Aesthetic invention and social imagination in Central European Architecture, 1867–1918 (Cambridge, MA., The MIT Press, 1998). V. Marchi, ‘Architettura futurista’ (1924), in, E. Godoli, E. Giacomelli, eds, Virgilio Marchi. Scritti di architettura (Florence, Octavo-Franco Cantini Editore, 1995), p. 57. M. Sabatino, ‘Back to the Drawing Board? Revisiting the Vernacular Tradition in Italian Modern Architecture’, Annali di Architettura, 16 (2004), p. 169. C.E. Rava, ‘Spirito Latino’, Domus, 38 (February, 1931), pp. 24–29. C. E. Rava, ‘Di un'architettura coloniale moderna. Parte prima’, Domus, 41 (May, 1931), pp. 39–43, 89. S. Danesi, ‘Aporie dell'architettura italiana in periodo fascista — mediterraneità e purismo’, in, S. Danesi, L. Patetta, eds, Il razionalismo e l'architettura in Italia durante il fascismo (Milan, Electa, Edizioni Biennale di Venezia, 1976), pp. 21–28. Ibid., pp. 21–2. The Quadrante group included Gian Luigi Banfi, Ludovico Barbiano di Belgiojoso, Piero Bottoni, Mario Cereghini, Luigi Figini, Guido Frette, Enrico Griffini, Pietro Lingeri, Enrico Peressutti, Gino Pollini, Ernesto Nathan Rogers and Giuseppe Terragni. Ibid., p. 21. The scholarship on Italian art includes: M. Antliff, ‘Fascism, Modernism and Modernity’, The Art Bulletin, 84, 1 (March, 2002), pp. 148–69 and E. Braun, ‘Speaking Volumes: Giorgio Morandi's Still Lives and the Cultural Politics of Strapaese’, Modernism/Modernity, 2, 3 (1995), pp. 89–116. In architecture, the most prominent example is: M. Sabatino, ‘Back to the Drawing Board?’, op. cit.,pp. 169–85. The original members of the Gruppo Sette were all students of the Milan Polytechnic, Castagnoli being replaced in 1928 with Adalberto Libera, who graduated that year from the School of Architecture in Rome. See C. Belli, ‘Origini e sviluppi del Gruppo 7’, La Casa, 6 (1960), pp. 176–97;and C. Belli, Il volto del secolo. La prima cellula dell'architettura razionalista italiana (Bergamo, Pierluigi Lubrina Editore, 1988). The process of appointment of Rava to this group is recorded in a letter in the CIAM archive in Zurich, dated 13th March and sent to the secretary of the organising committee, Gabriel Guevrékian: it notes a prior invitation from Madame Helène de Maudrot to the La Sarraz conference. In this letter he also offers the name of Alberto Sartoris as the other delegate. See GTA-CIAM 42-k-1928 Rava. See also M. Talamona, ‘Primi passi verso l'Europa (1927–1933)’, in, V. Gregotti, G. Marzari, eds, Luigi Figini Gino Pollini. Opera completa (Milan, Electa, 1996), pp. 61–73 and F. Brunetti, Architetti e fascismo (Florence, Alinea Editrice, 1993), pp. 145–56. Rava claims to have written the first and last of these manifestoes, which he published in C. E. Rava, Nove anni di architettura vissuta, 1926 IV–1935 XIII (Rome, Cremonese editore, 1935). This claim is supported by the original manuscripts in his handwriting in the Centro Studi ed Archivio di Comunicazione (CSAC) at the University of Parma. See Archivio Carlo Enrico Rava – ‘Articoli, manoscritti, estratti, riviste del “Gruppo 7” e di Rava sue gruppo—1927/36’. It is worth noting that the publication of these manifestoes in Rassegna Italiana was due to the influence of Rava's father, Maurizio. D. Doordan, Building modern Italy. Italian architecture 1914–1936 (New York, Princeton Architectural Press, 1988); G. Ciucci, Gli architetti e il fascismo: architettura e città, 1922–1944 ( Turin, G. Einaudi, 1989); F. Brunetti, Architetti e Fascismo, op. cit.; and D. Ghirardo, ‘Italian Architects and Fascist Politics: An Evaluation of the Rationalists’ Role in Regime Building’, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 39 (May, 1980), pp. 109–27. M. Rava, Al lago Tsana (Il mar profondo d'Etiopia). Relazione del viaggio compiuto dalla Missione Tancredi per incarico della Reale Società Geografica (Rome, Presso la Reale Società Geografica, 1913). Corradini was one of the best-known figures in the Nationalist movement that emerged in Italy beginning in 1910. This group's political platform of a strong authoritarian state and colonial expansion was an influence on the subsequent rise of the Fascist Party after World War I. C. Segrè, Fourth Shore. The Italian Colonization of Libya (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1974), pp. 16–19. E. Savino, La Nazione Operante. Albo d'oro del fascismo (Novara, Istituto geografico De Agostini, 1937), p. 90. Carlo Enrico Rava's travels to Tripolitania are documented in two photographic albums in his family's private collection. His first visit to Tripolitania was from 24th December, 1927 to 9th February, 1928. His second and third visits were 18th April to 3rd May and 1st –17th November, 1928. His fourth visit to Tripolitania was from 24th January to 10th April, 1929, during which he participated in a Raid sahariano to Ghadames (3rd –15th February). His fifth visit to Tripolitania was from 14th November, 1929 to 18th March 1930. On 11th –16th March he visited the village of Kabao, also in the south. His final visit was in March, 1931, with a second voyage to Ghadames beginning on 17th March. See, Carlo Enrico Rava, Album di viaggio, 1928–30 and 1931–32: Rava family, private collection. Gruppo Sette, ‘Architettura’, Rassegna Italiana, 18, 103 (December, 1926), pp. 853–4. Ibid., pp. 851–52. C. E. Rava, ‘Dell'europeismo in architettura’, Rassegna Italiana, 21, 117 (February, 1928), pp. 133–39. Ibid., p. 138. Larco and Rava's Hotel at the Excavations of Leptis Magna was one of seven projects displayed in the first Rationalist exhibition, the others being proposals for the head office of a magazine, an office building and four different housing types accommodating income levels from working class to luxury. M. Cennamo, ed., Materiali per l'analisi dell'architettura moderna. La prima Esposizione Italiana di Architettura Razionale (Naples, Società Editrice Napoletana, 1973), pp. 108–17. See also M. Piacentini, ‘Prima internazionale architettonica’, Architettura e Arti Decorative, 6, 12 (August, 1928), pp. 560–61. For the report of the jury see: ‘Concorso per il Padiglione delle Colonie alla Fiera di Milano. Relazione della Commissione giudatrice’, Rivista Coloniale, 22, 3 (May–June, 1927), pp. 177–80. See also: M. Piacentini, ‘Due Lavori di C.E. Rava e S. Larco’, Architettura e Arti Decorative, 7, 11 (July, 1928), pp. 524–28. This project's coverage in European publications is as follows: ‘Anfänge neuer baukunst in Italien’, Das Neue Frankfurt, 3, 2 (February, 1929), p. 38; T. Van Doesburg, ‘Het elementair-constructieve beginsel in de Romeinse architectuur. Gruppo 7 Milano en de voortzetting van de traditie’, Het Bouwbedrijf, 6, 20 (27th September, 1929), p. 401; and R. Ginsburger, ‘Italien’, in Frankreich. Die Entwicklung der Neuen Ideen nach Konstruktion und Form (Vienna, Verlag von Anton Schroll & Co., 1930), pp. 121–31. See ‘Memorial a S.E. Leicht sulla costituzione dal “Gruppo Nazionale” degli architetti razionalisti italiani’, 19th September, 1928: ACS-MPI Dir. Gen. AA.BB.AA. Division III, 1930–35. Busta 158, Fascicolo - 1929-Zurigo-Comitato Internazionale per l'Architettura. Calza Bini rejected any connection with CIAM, which ‘has Russia and Germany as its principal centre, and tends to the internationalisation of architectonic forms.’— letter from Sindacato Nazionale Architetti (Calza Bini) to Ministro della Educazione Nazionale (Balbino), 11th March, 1930: ACS-MPI Dir. Gen. AA.BB.AA. Division III, 1930–35. Busta 158, Fascicolo - 1929-Zurigo-Comitato Internazionale per l'Architettura. Rejection of this proposal by the remaining members of Gruppo 7 is recorded in correspondence between Rava, Sartoris and Pollini: Archivio Figini Pollini, Scatola 3, Cartella B. M. Piacentini, ‘Prima internazionale architettonica’, p. 548; C. E. Rava, ‘Svolta pericolosa: situazione dell'Italia di fronte al razionalismo europeo’, Domus, 37 (January, 1931), p. 39. Ibid., p. 41. The use of images from the German magazine Moderne Bauformen to illustrate this article further underscore the polemical nature of this identification of a new direction within European Rationalism. Ibid., pp. 41, 43. F. Brunetti, Architetti e fascismo, op. cit., p. 203. M. Piacentini, ‘Dove è irragionevole l'architettura razionale’, Dedalo, 10, 11 (January, 1931), pp. 527–40. C. E. Rava, ‘Spirito Latino’, Domus, 38 (February, 1931), p. 24. Ibid., pp. 25–6. M. Piacentini, ‘Influssi d'arte italiana nel Nord-America’, Architettura e Arti Decorative, 1, 6 (July–August, 1922), pp. 536–38, 542, 554–55. C. E. Rava, ‘Spirito Latino’, op. cit., pp. 27–29. S. Danesi, ‘Aporie dell'architettura Italiana’, op. cit., p. 21. C. E. Rava, ‘Di un'architettura coloniale moderna. Parte prima’, op. cit., pp. 39–40. Ibid., p. 41. C. E. Rava, ‘Di un'architettura coloniale moderna. Parte seconda’, Domus, 42 (June, 1931), p. 34. Ibid., p. 32. R. Bartoccini, ‘La Moschea di Murad Agha in Tagiura (Tripolitania)’, Architettura e Arti Decorative, 3, 8 (April, 1924), pp. 337–46; G. Giovannoni, ‘Case del quattrocento in Roma’, Architettura e Arti Decorative, 5, 6 (February, 1926), pp. 241–57. M. Corsi, ‘Le Moschee di Tripoli’, Emporium, 41, 362 (February, 1925), pp. 96–113. For a general discussion of these early research activities, see: A. Del Boca, L'Africa nella coscienza degli Italiani (Bari-Rome, Laterza, 1992), pp. 7–22. For a general discussion of these activities from 1922 to 1932, see. A. Piccioli, La nuova Italia d'oltremare (Milan, A. Mondadori Editore, 1933), pp. 1717–57. C. E. Rava, ‘Di un'architettura coloniale moderna. Parte prima’, op. cit., p. 89. The book documents a trip that Rava took in March, 1931, along with a group of at least five other people from Tripoli to Ghadames and back with a brief excursion to the town of Tunin, which was near the Algerian border in south-west Tripolitania. Notably this book was undertaken at the same time as the publication of his writings on colonial architecture in Domus. This trip is recorded in the monthly notices kept by the colonial authorities — Notiziario d'informazioni, 7th April, 1931: ACS-PCM 1931–1933. 17.1.6267. See C. E. Rava, Viaggio a Tunin (Bologna, Licinio Cappelli editore, 1932). Ibid., pp. 17–18, 33–34, 96, 169. C. Segrè, Italo Balbo: A Fascist Life (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1987), p. 324. This statement comes from a speech made by Mussolini during his visit to Tripolitania in April, 1926: B. Mussolini, ‘Speech at Municipio di Tripoli’, 11th April, 1926, in Scritti e discorsi di Benito Mussolini. Volume V. Scritti e discorsi dal 1925 al 1926 (Milan, Ulrico Hoepli Editore, 1934), pp. 318–19. C. E. Rava, ‘Di un'architettura coloniale moderna, Parte seconda’, op. cit., p. 36. H. Bhabha, ‘Of Mimicry and Man, The Ambivalence of Colonial Discourse’, in The Location of Culture (London and New York, Routledge, 1994), p. 89.