The Image as Reaction. Nuclear Painting and Architecture, Italy 1951-1958

Abstract

The last act of World War II took place in the Summer of 1945 with the explosions of the atomic bomb. Despite the fact that these events took place far from the “old continent” some European artists were deeply affected by the power of the atomic instrument and they meditated on a possible future dominated by a nuclear manipulation capable of redefining “the representation of man and his space”. The goal of this paper is two-fold: firstly to analyze some specific aspects of artists who belonged to the “Movimento Arte Nucleare” and their affiliation with architectural practices, together with their 'dialogue' with the “International Movement for an Imaginist Bauhaus”; and secondly, to introduce the figure of the Nuclear Architect, Enzo Venturelli, in order to describe an original panorama based on the alliances and contaminations between diverse disciplines associated by the sensitive attention paid to the planning of the future and the rejection of Rationalist Architecture.