Let the Art Speak: Ardengo Soffichi’s Russian Correspondents

PDF

https://doi.org/10.22455/Emigr.3034-3518-2024-1-671-694

https://elibrary.ru/SIGSPW

Abstract: Based on unpublished archival documents from Ardengo Soffichi’s collection (1879–1964) held by the State Archive in Florence, this paper examines the cultural relationships between the Italian artist Soffichi and some of the most prominent figures of the first Russian emigration wave from 1903 to 1962. Besides unpublished papers, the present contribution looks at some important aspects of the previously published correspondence between Soffichi and the Russian painter Sergei Iastrebtsov (1881–1958), and argues that it was this fruitful tandem which prompted the first translations of Chekhov's works in Italy. Moreover, the letters which Soffichi received from artists and writers such as Edita Brol'o and Il'ia Zdanevich during 1950s and 1960s demonstrate that the avant-garde experience was still very much alive among the earliest Russian émigrés.

Кeywords: Russian Emigration, Italian Studies, Russian Studies, Art, Twentieth-Century Literature, Ardengo Soffichi.

Information about the author: Giuseppina Larocca, PhD in Slavic Studies, Leading Researcher, University of Macerata, Illuminati st. 4, 621000 Macerata, Italy.

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0732-9485

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

For citation: Larocca, G. “Let the Art Speak: Ardengo Soffichi’s Russian Correspondents.” Emigrantica. Issue 1: In memory of Oleg Korostelev, ed.-comp. E.R. Ponomarev, sci. ed. E.R. Ponomarev, M. Schruba, ed. M.S. Shchavlinskii, D.V. Zaitsev. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2024, pp. 671–694. (In Russian) https://doi.org/10.22455/Emigr.3034-3518-2024-1-671-694 

REFERENCES

  1. Gardzonio, S. “K izucheniiu russkogo zarubezh’ia v Italii: Materialy k istoriiʽLa Russia’ i ʽLa Russia Nuova’” [“Towards the Studyof Russian Emigration in Italy: Materials for the History of the Journals ʽLa Russia’ and ʽLa Russia Nuova’”]. Studies in Modern Russian and Polish Culture and Bibliography. Essays in Honor of Wojciech Zalewski, ed. by L. Fleishman, vol. 20. Stanford, Stanford Slavic Studies Publ., 1999, pp. 77–101. (In Russian)
  2. d’Ameliia, A. “Iz arkhivnykh razyskanii: russkaia khudozhnitsa Edita Brol’ov Italii” [“From Archival Researches: the Russian Artist Edita Broglio in Italy”]. Paraboly: Studies in Russian Modernist Literature and Culture. In Hon- or of John E. Malmstad [Parabolas: Studies in Russian Modernist Literature and Culture. In Honor of John E. Malmstad]. Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang Publ., 2011, pp. 355–366. (In Russian)
  3. Korostelev, O.A. “Pafos svobody: Literaturnaia kritika russkoi emigratsii zapolveka (1920–1970)” [“Pathos of Freedom: RussianEmigration Literary Criticism in Half-Century (1920–1970)”]. Kritika russkogo zarubezh’ia: v 2 ch. [Criticism of the RussianDiaspora: in 2 vols.], ed. and introd. by O.A. Korostelev, comp. by O.A. Korostelev, N.G. Mel’nikov, vol. 1. Moscow, Olimp Publ., AST Publ., 2002, pp. 3–36. (In Russian)
  4. Kukui, I. “Laboratoriia avangarda: Zhurnal ʽTransponans’” [“Avant-garde Laboratory: The Journal ʽTransponans’”] Russian Literature, vol. 59, no. 2–4,2006, pp. 225–259. (In Russian)
  5. Kukui, I. “ʽRifmy pervyi voln’: Ob organizuiushchem nachale tvorchestva Ry Nikonovoi” [“ʽFirst Waves Rhymes’: aboutthe Organized Beginning of Ry Nikonova’s Oeuvre”]. Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie, no. 4, 2014, pp. 275–278. (In Russian)
  6. Ritstsi, D. “Russkie khudozhniki i pisateli v stat’iakh i vospominaniiakh Ar-dengo Soffichi” [“Russian Artists and Writers in Ardengo Soffichi’s Articles and Memories”]. “Personazhi v poiskakh avtora”. Zhizn’ russkikh v Italii XX veka [“Characters in Search of an Author”. Life of Russians in Italy in the 20th Century], comp. by A. d’Ameliia, D. Ritstsi. Moscow, Russkii Put’ Publ., 2011, pp. 99–115. (In Russian)
  7. Kovalenko, G.F., editor. Russkii avangard 1910–1920-kh gg. i teatr [Russian Avant-garde in 1910-1920s and Theatre]. St. Petersburg, Dmitrii Bulanin Publ., 2000. 405 p. (In Russian)
  8. Kovalenko, G.F., editor. Russkoe iskusstvo. XX vek: issledovaniia i publikatsii: v 3 t. [Russian Art. XX Century: Researches and Publications: in 3 vols.]. Mos- cow, Nauka Publ., 2007. (In Russian)
  9. Savitskii, S. “Khelenukty v teatre povsednevnosti. Leningrad, vtoraia polovi-na 60-kh godov” [“Khelenukty in Every Day-Life Theatre. Leningrad, Second Half of 60s”]. Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie, no. 30, 1998, pp. 210–259. (In Russian)
  10. Severiukhin, D.Ia., editor. Samizdat Leningrada. Literaturnaia entsiklopediia[Leningrad Samizdat. Literary Encyclopedia]. Moscow, Novoe Literaturnoe Obozrenie Publ., 2003. 624 p. (In Russian)
  11. Chudakov, A.P., editor. Chekhoviana. Chekhov i “cerebrianyi vek” [Chekho- viana:Chekhov and the “Silver Age”]. Moscow, NaukaPubl., 1996. 319 p. (In Russian)
  12. Garzonio,S. “ʽSiamo in due, siamo soli’.” Mosty mostite. Studi in onore di Marcello Garzaniti, a cura di A. Alberti, M. Ferro, F. Romoli. Firenze, Firenze University Press, 2016, p. 339–348. (In Italian)
  13. Gayraud, R. “Quand Iliazd écrit à Soffici: Une histoire dans l’histoire.” Ca-hiers de la Méditerranée, no. 90, 2015, pp. 179–198. (In Italian)
  14. Larocca, G. “Emigrazione e letteratura russa a Firenze: Scritture e traduzi-oni.” Migrazioni ed esili nel Novecento. Prospettive tra ispanistica e russistica, a cura di I. Karafillidis, A. Moro. Pisa, Pisa University Press, 2022, pp. 63–87. (In Italian)
  15. “Lettere di Giovanni Papini a Olga Signorelli”, a cura di R. Vassena. Olga Signorelli e la cultura del suo tempo, a cura di E. Garetto, D. Rizzi. Salerno, Europa Orientalis, 2010, pp. 145–300. (In Italian)
  16. Marcucci, G. Čechov in Italia. La duchessa d’Andria e altre traduzioni (1905–1936). Macerata, Quodlibet, 2022. 187 p. (In Italian)
  17. Marchetti, G. Ardengo Soffici. Firenze, La Nuova Italia, 1979. 135 p. (In Italian)
  18. Paoletti, A. “Galleria”. Una rivista di Soffici e Baldini sotto il fascismo. Gen-naio-Maggio 1924. Con due testimonianze di Giovanni Spadolini. Firenze, Le Monnier, 1992. 448 p. (In Italian)
  19. Vassena, R. “Giovanni Papini e Lev Tolstoj.” Sincerità di Tolstoj. Saggi sull’o-pera e la fortuna a 100 anni dalla morte, a cura di D. Rebecchini, L. Rossi. Milano, Cisalpino. Istituto Editoriale Universitario, 2012, pp. 187–202. (In Italian)

Received: December 23, 2021
Approved: August 14, 2022
Date of publication: October 07, 2024

Current Issue

emi cover 3