In 1938 artist Ernesto Treccani founded the magazine Vita Giovanile with the financial backing of his father, Senator Giovanni Treccani. Initially a monthly and then a biweekly publication, the magazine later changed its name to Corrente di Vita Giovanile and finally Corrente.[1] Treccani envisioned the magazine as an independent venture free from the directives of the GUF (University Fascist Group). Corrente quickly became a point of reference for Italian antifascist culture in the late 1930s,[2] putting forward a democratic alternative to the official guidelines of the Ministry of Popular Culture, and strongly criticizing more regime-aligned art movements such as the Novecento Italiano and late Futurism.[3] On June 10, 1940, the Fascist regime successfully closed Corrente when Italy entered World War II.[4]
After the closure of the magazine, the Corrente editorial activities continued until 1943 with the publication of Edizioni di Corrente – a collection of books that included I lirici grecibySalvatore Quasimodo, I lirici spagnoli by Carlo Bo, FrontierabyVittorio Sereni, Occhio quadratobyAlberto Lattuada – and with exhibitions at the Bottega di Corrente gallery, in Via della Spiga 9, around which gravitated cultural and political figures in opposition to the government.[5]
The artists associated to Corrente perpetuated an art replete with humane and moral content, in full opposition to the one supported by the fascist regime.[8] They tended decisively towards expressionist visual forms, and referenced the Scuola Romana, as well as European artists such as Vincent van Gogh, James Ensor, Chaïm Soutine and Pablo Picasso, and movements like Fauves, Nabis and Die Brücke. The group organised debates, round-table discussions and exhibitions, bringing in artists like Renato Birolli, Giuseppe Migneco, Bruno Cassinari, Renato Guttuso, Aligi Sassu and Ennio Morlotti.[9] In doing so, the Corrente Movement became a hub for a generation of intellectuals and artists who wished to establish an intellectual bridge to Europe, and who saw ethics and the role of the artist in society as the key to a substantial renewal in Italian culture.[10]
^Cf. A. Luzi, ed., Corrente di Vita Giovanile (1938–1940), foreword by Vittorio Sereni, Ateneo Roma (1975)
^Cf. "From Vita GiovaniletoCorrente 1938–39", in R. Ben-ghiat, Fascist Modernities: Italy, 1922–1945, pp. 168ff., University of California Press (2000).
^R. De Grada, Il movimento di Corrente, Edizioni del Milione, Milano, 1952
^Statements in E. Treccani, Arte per amore. Scritti e pagine di diario, Feltrinelli, Milano, 1978
^E. Pontiggia (a cura di), Il movimento di Corrente, Abscondita, Milano, 2012
^E. Crispolti, V. Fagone, C. Ruju (a cura di), Corrente: cultura e società 1938–1942: omaggio a Edoardo Persico 1900–1936, Centro di iniziativa culturale del Mezzogiorno, Napoli, 1979
^Statements in D. Morosini, L’arte degli anni difficili, Editori Riuniti, Roma, 1985
^Cf. "From Vita GiovaniletoCorrente 1938–39", in R. Ben-ghiat, Fascist Modernities: Italy, 1922–1945, pp. 168ff., University of California Press (2000).
^M. De Micheli, R. De Grada (a cura di), Corrente: il movimento di arte e cultura, Milano, 1985
^Statements in R. Birolli, Taccuini 1936–1959, a cura di E. Emanuelli, Einaudi, Torino, 1960
^Statements in G. Mucchi, Le occasioni perdute: memorie 1899–1993, L'Archivolto, Milano, 1994
^Z. Birolli, G. Bruno, P. Rusconi, Renato Birolli. Anni trenta Milano e Roma, Archivio di Scuola romana, Roma 1997
(in Italian) Raffaele De Grada, Il movimento di Corrente, Edizioni del Milione, Milan, 1952
(in Italian)Enrico Crispolti, Vittorio Fagone, Cesare Ruju Brandi, Corrente: cultura e società 1938–1942: omaggio a Edoardo Persico 1900–1936, Centro di Iniziativa Culturale del Mezzogiorno, Naples, 1979
(in Italian) Elena Pontiggia, Il movimento di Corrente, Abscondita, Milan, 2012
(in Italian) Giovannella Desideri, Antologia della rivista "Corrente", with contributions by Ernesto Treccani, Giansiro Ferrata and Alberto Lattuada, Guida, Naples, 1979
(in Italian) Ernesto Treccani, Arte per amore. Scritti e pagine di diario, Feltrinelli, Milan, 1978
(in Italian) Duilio Morosini, L’arte degli anni difficili, Editori Riuniti, Rome, 1985
(in Italian) Mario De Micheli, Raffaele De Grada, Corrente: il movimento di arte e cultura, Milan, 1985
(in Italian) Gabriele Mucchi, Le occasioni perdute: memorie 1899–1993, L'Archivolto, Milan, 1994
(in Italian) Renato Guttuso, Mestiere di pittore, De Donato editore, Bari, 1972
(in Italian) Zeno Birolli, Gianfranco Bruno, Annamaria Brizio, Paolo Rusconi, Renato Birolli. Anni trenta Milano e Roma, Archivio di Scuola Romana, Rome, 1997
(in Italian) Raffaele De Grada, La grande stagione, Anthelios, Milan, 2001
