Hitler and Mussolini in churches: the church painter's subversion of fascism : the ideological marking of space along the Slovene-Italian border
Methodology of the study of Tone Kralj's church paintings as a spatial phenomenon -- Tone Kralj's artistic developemnt -- Historical context of Kralj's church paintings -- A church within the church -- Selected paintings -- Conclusion -- Tone Kralj's works in Primorska.
| Summary: | Methodology of the study of Tone Kralj's church paintings as a spatial phenomenon -- Tone Kralj's artistic developemnt -- Historical context of Kralj's church paintings -- A church within the church -- Selected paintings -- Conclusion -- Tone Kralj's works in Primorska. "When Europe fell prey to the 20th century totalitarian regimes, a mysterious Slovene artist from a northern Adriatic country responded to the cruellest oppression by systematically depicting his own and his community's resistance against Fascism and Nazism in the public space, in front of the very nose of the regime, so to speak. As incredible as it may seem, the regime never discovered and punished his rebellious action. The painter embedded his ideological subversion of Fascism and Nazism in wall paintings in more than 50 Catholic churches, thus disseminating his subversive message among his people with whom he shared the same cultural memory. With many of them covering a surface area of several square metres, the church paintings introduced Mussolini and Hitler in a Biblical visual narrative, portraying the two dictators with irony and grotesqueness as villainous biblical characters, often in the role of hangmen, murderers or clowns. The symbols of their regimes were incorporated into Biblical scenes depicting eschatological dimensions of the struggle between good and evil, thus spreading - in the time of the most brutal fascistization - the painter's firm belief in the historical downfall of the Fascist and Nazi regimes. Who was this genius of painting, Tone Kralj? Why did he mark the Slovene-Italian ethnic border, which was longer than 100 kilometres, with unmistakable symbols of antifascism and anti-Nazism? Given that he painted his church murals in an occupied area, how is it possible that the repressive police apparatus did not detect his inconceivably bold artistic gesture? And what was the role played by the secret antifascist organization of the "men of the Church" in the Julian March? Employing a contemporary methodological approach, Egon Pelikan, author of this ground-breaking study, managed to decipher all dimensions of this unique artistic phenomenon, a "message in the bottle", almost one hundred years later"-- |
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| Item Description: | Includes bibliographical references and index -- Includes bibliographical references and index Literaturverzeichnis: Seite 289-296 |
| ISBN: | 1789971497 |