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Sulla scorta di un rinvigorito e incoraggiante corso degli studi che negli ultimi anni ha visto nascere svariate pubblicazioni e iniziative che intrecciano la storia del colonialismo, la storia dell’arte e quella delle esposizioni, questo libro vuole presentare il primo frutto di un lavoro di documentazione nato da una ricerca pluriennale, cominciata nel 2013 e tuttora in continuo ampliamento, tesa a porre in evidenza, e a vagliare in maniera critica e con un taglio multidisciplinare, il tema dell’alterità nel contesto coloniale italiano, indagato attraverso un ricco insieme di testimonianze visive e letterarie. Il lavoro è dedicato alla raccolta e all’analisi di un nutrito corpus di fonti iconiche e testuali, aventi come soggetto le popolazioni nere dell’Africa durante il periodo coloniale; l’arco cronologico considerato è, nello specifico, quello del Ventennio fascista (1922-1943). La ricerca prende in esame svariate tipologie di veicoli delle immagini, quali opere d’arte, riviste illustrate e grafica per l’infanzia, nonché numerosi articoli d’epoca tratti da riviste e quotidiani.

This work collects and analyzes a large corpus of Italian sources, both visual and literary, having as subject the black populations of colonial Africa. The research investigates specifically the sources of the fascist period (1922-1943). It examines various kinds of images, such as works of art, graphic works in illustrated magazines, commercial art and illustrations for children, as well as many articles taken by old Italian magazines and newspapers. The work wants to frame the various sources critically and to outline the evolution of some stereotypes related to the black colonial population and produced by an Eurocentric point of view. The first chapter presents the methodology which has been used to set the work; the second one, instead, is divided into two sections: the one contextualizes the European art with exotic subject and, specifically, the Orientalism trend and some of its Italian members; the other is devoted to the presentation of the artistic debate related to the Italian colonial artworks of the fascist period. The third chapter, which is the core of the work, is divided into various sections, which analyze the different male and female stereotypes emerged from the observation of images and texts. The study takes account of some historical situations, such as the Italo-Ethiopian wars of the late nineteenth century and of the 1935-36 biennium, which contributed to the spread of many clichés and iconographies about the black populations. The research also offers information about many of the Italian artists mentioned: these notes are useful for the comprehension of the fascist colonial art, of its exhibitions and its protagonists. The last part of the work presents the bibliography, a selection of the artistic and ethnographic articles found during the researches and used in the work, and the catalogue of the illustrations, which consists in a selection of over eight hundred images.