L’Ideologia del Traditore (The Ideology of the Traitor: Art, Manner and Mannerism)

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Achille Bonito Oliva

Electa, Milan, 1998, English and Italian; originally published 1977

Nonfiction, General

ISBN: 9788843565467

In the 20th century, Mannerism was re-examined from the perspective that has highlighted its affinities with our own time: the loss of social values, and the crisis in politics and religion. This text takes a number of works exemplifying Mannersim in Italian painting as its starting point, and goes on to analyze its structural and historical roots. The book is interdisciplinary and ranges from analytical anthropology to semiology and psychoanalysis, following a spiral course that reflects Mannerism's own fragmentation of reality and inherent ambivalence.

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Stefano Giovannoni

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This book surveys the attitudes and beliefs of artists during the period of Mannerism in the 16th century. I think it’s a real masterpiece and a reference point for any critic of art. Achille Bonito Oliva analyzes the approach of artists to painting in this particular historical period with a very smart and elegant style.

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