La Rivista Illustrata del Popolo d'Italia. Milan, 6 June 1926.
Exhibit Image

This pictorial magazine founded by Benito Mussolini and directed by Arnaldo Mussolini (the Duce's brother) contains many articles related to the Italian leader and Fascism. The issue shown here includes a famous article on the XVth Biennial Art Exhibit in Venice written by Mussolini's mistress Margherita Sarfatti, who played a major role in the Duce's cultural development. Frank and outspoken in her criticism of the pressure brought to bear on the show's organizers to show only established masters, she singles out for special praise a painting by the Austrian Oscar Kokoschka, whose avant-garde work would in a few years' time be branded as degenerate and removed from German museums.


ITALIAN LIFE UNDER FASCISM: Selections from the Fry Collection
Exhibition in the Department of Special Collections
Memorial Library
University of Wisconsin-Madison
July through September 1998