Art and Architecture in the Service of Politics

<The Mausoleum of Augustus - a modern drawing>

Art and Architecture in the Service of Politics edited by H. A. Millon and L. Nochlin was published by the MIT Press in 1978. The hardcover version was reprinted in 1980, but as far as I know, it was never published as a paperback.

First a few words about the editors:

** Henry Armand Millon (born 1927) is the author of several books and articles about the history of architecture; he is emeritus professor of history of architecture at MIT.

** Linda Nochlin (born 1931) is the author of several books and articles about the history of art; she is professor of modern art at New York University.

The book opens with a brief introduction in which the editors explain how the book came into existence:

“The authors of the articles originally prepared their papers for a two-stage colloquium held at MIT under the sponsorship of the Department of Architecture in December 1972 and February 1974 and revised them for publication after these critical discussion sessions.”

The book ends with a list of contributors. There is a brief biography of each contributor. There is no index.

The main text is divided into 17 chapters about different topics, different locations, and different historical periods. Each chapter has its own notes, bibliography and illustrations. Obviously, it is important for each author to show the art and/or architecture which is under discussion.

While the illustrations are helpful and well-chosen, it is a shame they are all in black-and-white. Perhaps this is because the book was published more than thirty years ago. Perhaps this is because the publisher was afraid that using colour illustrations would make the volume too expensive.

The 17 chapters are written by 17 different scholars, including one of the editors (Millon). There is no contribution by the other editor (Nochlin). Here is a brief overview (the order of the chapters has been re-arranged):

SIX CHAPTERS ABOUT ITALY

# 01. “Constantinian Politics and the Atrium Church,” by Richard Stapleford

# 02. “Chivalric Declaration: The Palazzo Ducale in Urbino as a Political Statement,” by C. W. Westfall

# 03. “The Palace as a Fortress: Rome and Bologna under Pope Julius II,” by Stanislaus von Moos

# 07. “Rome’s First National State Architecture: The Palazzo delle Finanze,” by Eberhard Schroeter

# 14. “The Emperor and the Duce: The Planning of Piazzale Augusto Imperatore in Rome,” by Spiro Kostof

# 15. “Some New Towns in Italy in the 1930s,” by Henry A. Millon

THREE CHAPTERS ABOUT FRANCE

# 4. Ingres’s ‘Vow of Louis XIII’ and the Politics of Restoration, by Carol Duncan

# 5. “Long Live the Revolution, the Republic, and Especially the Emperor! The Political Sculpture of Rude,” by Ruth Butler

# 9. “Five Artists in the Service of Politics in the Pages of L’Assiette au Beurre,” by Ralph E. Shikes

TWO CHAPTERS ABOUT RUSSIA

# 06. “The Revolutionary Theme in Russian Realism,” by Alison Hilton

# 10. “Russian Sculpture and Lenin’s Plan of Monumental Propaganda,” John E. Bowlt

TWO CHAPTERS ABOUT MEXICO AND MEXICAN ART

# 11. “Political Iconography in the Diego Rivera Frescoes at Cuernavaca, Mexico,” by Stanton L. Catlin

# 12. “The Rivera Frescoes of Modern Industry at the Detroit Institute of Arts: Proletarian Art under Capitalist Patronage,” by Max Kozloff

FOUR CHAPTERS ABOUT FOUR DIFFERENT TOPICS

# 08. “Votes for women? A Graphic Episode in the Battle of the Sexes,” by Paula Hays Harper

# 13. “With Red Flags Flying: Housing in Amsterdam, 1915-1923,” by Helen Searing

# 16. “Philip Guston and Political Humanism,” by Francis V. O’Connor

# 17. “Art of the New Chile: Mural, Poster, and Comic Book in a Revolutionary Process,” by David Kunzle

Most chapters are about 20 pages, including illustrations. A few are shorter, and a few are longer. But one chapter stands out, because it is the longest of them all: chapter 14 covers 55 pages. If you ask me, it is also the best and most important contribution in this volume, and therefore the remaining part of my review will focus on this chapter.

<The pavilion erected in 1938 to protect the Altar of Peace>

The author, Spiro Konstantine Kostof, was born in 1936 in Istanbul, Turkey, but he was of Greek and Bulgarian ethnic origin. He moved to the US in 1957, where he studied architecture. He became professor of architectural history at the University of California, Berkeley. His life was cut short by problems with his health. When he died in 1991, he was only 55 years old.

His chapter is divided into two parts. In the first part he tells us what happened with the Piazzale Augusto Imperatore; in the second part he tries to explain why it happened and to give an interpretation of the results. The following elements are discussed in great detail (and each element is accompanied by numerous illustrations):

** The excavation of the mausoleum of Augustus

** The demolition of several buildings around it

** The decision not to touch three Catholic churches which had been built near the mausoleum

** The construction of two new buildings on the northern and eastern side of the mausoleum;

** The decision to re-assemble the ancient Ara Pacis and place it inside a modern pavilion erected on the western side of the mausoleum

<Ara Pacis - The Altar of Peace - dedicated by Augustus on 30 January 9 BC>

The fascist leader Benito Mussolini was the driving force behind the planning and re-organisation of the Piazzale. He wanted to show the connection between the first Emperor Augustus and himself, between the ancient Roman Empire and the modern fascist state. The occasion was the 2000 year anniversary of the emperor’s birth. Augustus was born on 23 September 63 BC. This means the anniversary should be celebrated on 23 September 1937.

The fascist government decided to declare the period from 23 September 1937 to 23 September 1938 “the Augustan year.” The Ara Pacis was dedicated on 23 September 1938, the last day of the Augustan year, but work on the Piazzale was not completed until 1941. By that time the Second World War had already begun and the end of the fascist regime was not far away.

The Piazzale Augusto Imperatore is one of several locations where the first, the second, and the third Rome meet each other: the first Rome is represented by the mausoleum of Augustus; the second Rome is represented by the three Catholic churches; while the third Rome (modern Italy) is represented by the two buildings erected in the 1930s.

Having discussed the planning and the implementation, Kostof gives his verdict. He is not happy with the result of Mussolini’s decisions as you can see from his final paragraph:

“Piazzale Augusto Imperatore lacked conviction in its own terms; as a consequence, it is unable to impress us today. Its aim as political art had been to use relics of the Augustan age to lend authority to Fascist achievement. The contest, at least in the visual sense, was never really joined. The Fascist side of the balance is too weak: what we are conscious of is the Augustan substance. Our opinion of Augustus is not affected by his association with Mussolini, and our opinion of Mussolini is not enhanced. The Duce yields to the Emperor and is lost. The Piazzale, in the end, remains a colossal mistake.”

I like this chapter, but I have to mention a factual mistake, which appears on page 285, where Kostof says: 

“On 20 April 1926, the birthday of Rome, he [Mussolini] listened to a speech by the Florentine poet F. Valerio Ratti…”

Rome’s traditional birthday falls on 21 April. Kostof knew this city well. He spent time there and wrote a book about it: The Third Rome, 1870-1950: Traffic and Glory (1973). How could he get this famous date wrong?

The old pavilion designed by the Italian architect Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo (1890-1966) was restored in 1971, as Kostof notes in the caption to illustration # 35a, but twenty years later it was clear that it had outlived its time and something had to be done. In 1996 the city of Rome decided to hire the US architect Richard Meier (born 1934) to design a new pavilion, which could replace the old one and at the same time turn the location into a modern museum.

The project was controversial and for this reason it was delayed several times, but finally in April 2006 the new museum was opened and the ancient monument was once again accessible to the public.

For more information about the new Ara Pacis museum, see Ara Pacis Guide by Orietta Rossini (published by Electa, first edition 2006, second edition 2007, third expanded edition 2012).

Art and Architecture in the Service of Politics edited by Millon and Nochlin is an interesting volume. Apart from chapter 14 - the important piece about the emperor and the duce by the late Spiro Konstantine Kostof - I recommend in particular the two chapters about Russia and the two chapters about the Mexican artist Diego Rivera.

PS. The following articles about political propaganda and architecture in Rome are available online: Susan L. Fugate Brangers, “Political Propaganda and Archaeology: The Mausoleum of Augustus in the Fascist Era,” International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, vol. 3, no. 16, August 2013, pp. 125-135; John Agnew, “Ghosts of Rome: The Haunting of Fascist Efforts at Remaking Rome as Italy’s Capital City.” The latter article, which includes an extensive bibliography, is not dated, but one of the photos used to illustrate it was taken in 2008, so I assume it was written and published in that year.

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Henry Armand Millon & Linda Nochlin, editors,

Art and Architecture in the Service of Politics,

MIT Press, 1978, reprinted 1980, 382 pages

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