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Description: Giorgio de Chirico and the Metaphysical City: Nietzsche, Modernism, Paris
~This book began as a dissertation at the University of California, Berkeley, under the direction of T. J. Clark. Befitting the changes and travels undertaken since then – from Volos to the Village – these acknowledgments now resemble something of a Catalogue of Ships. Let me say straight away that my efforts most often felt anything but Homeric. It is...
PublisherYale University Press
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00059.003
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Acknowledgments
This book began as a dissertation at the University of California, Berkeley, under the direction of T. J. Clark. Befitting the changes and travels undertaken since then – from Volos to the Village – these acknowledgments now resemble something of a Catalogue of Ships. Let me say straight away that my efforts most often felt anything but Homeric. It is the folks thanked here, though, who made the venture that much less solitary.
A number of fellowships both pre- and postdoctoral lent vital financial and institutional support to my research, without which it could never have been completed: a J. William Fulbright Scholarship Full Grant to Italy; a Fondazione Lemmerman Grant for Art and Archaeological Research; and a three-year Paul Mellon Fellowship from the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA) at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, which permitted extended residencies in Rome and Paris as well as a forum for finishing writing in D.C. A Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Stanford Humanities Program, and the Lauro de Bosis Visiting Assistant Professorship and Postdoctoral Fellowship in Italian Civilization of Harvard University afforded crucial time for revisions, as did a semester of Godard leave from New York University. Much appreciated grants from NYU’s Department of Italian Studies, the NYU Humanities Initiative, and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Office helped to pay for reproductions and rights when it mattered most. Last, but not least, a Meiss/Mellon Authors Book Award from the College Art Association generously funded remaining illustrations and copyright fees.
At CASVA, Dean Elizabeth Cropper, Associate Dean Peter Lukehart, and the other resident fellows created a dynamic forum for dialogue. At Harvard and Stanford I thank Seth Lehrer and Lino Pertile for the warm reception and stimulating conversations that enriched my time at both places. At Harvard, I fondly remember exchanges with Trish Craig, Francesco Ersparmer, Giuliana Minghelli, and Susan Suleiman, and my years at Stanford benefited especially from the collegiality of Scott Bukatman, Pamela Lee, Pavle Levi, Michael Marrinan, Jody Maxmin, and Bryan Wolf. The manuscript’s evolving ideas found perceptive interlocutors at conferences organized by Olivier Bonfait, Karla Malette, Alina Payne, and Gerhard Wolf, respectively, in Rome, Beirut, Cortona, and Berlin; I thank them for the opportunity to present this work in such motivating company. An abridged version of chapter four appeared in the journal Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics, vol. 57/58 (spring–autumn 2010), while a few passages from chapter two appeared in an essay for California Italian Studies, January 2010.
Several institutions and their staff receive my heartfelt thanks for their assistance with archives, objects, and collections, both close to home and far-flung: the Giorgio de Chirico Art Centre, Volos, Greece; Fabio Desideri, Ilaria Spadolini, and Maurizio Bossi at the Archivio Contemporaneo del Gabinetto G. P. Vieusseux, Florence; Angelica and Ruggero Savinio, and the Fondo Savinio, Gabinetto G. P. Vieusseux; Manuela La Cauza at the Fondazione Primo Conti, Fiesole; Ilaria Della Monica, The Berenson Library, Villa I Tatti, Florence; Alyson Price of the Edward Gordon Craig Collection, British Institute, Florence; Stacey Flatt, Department of Painting & Sculpture, Museum of Modern Art, New York; Emiliana Biondi of the Archivio dell’Arte Metafisica, Milan; Arnaud Dercelles of the Fondation Le Corbusier, Paris; Francesca Ambrosi at the Archivi Alinari; and Patrick Le Boeuf and Marie-Christine Muchery of the Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris; and Victoria-Noel Johnson and Paolo Piccoza of the Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico, Rome, who provided much appreciated help with images and documentation.
Matthew Gale responded attentively to queries regarding chapters one and two, and graciously lent permission for the reproduction of his underpainting studies; Cathy Gere replied with helpful illustration tips; Gregorio Nardi and Martin Weidlich obliged with bibliographical information at key junctures; and Michael Taylor offered characteristically generous assistance with all manner of details and documents. I thank Ilaria Benedetta Sborgi for her insights into E. Gordon Craig’s work in Florence, as well as her friendly assistance with the most arcane of citations. I am grateful to A. A. Donohue and Andrew Stewart for their insights into proto-archaic Hellenic aesthetics, particularly as they bear on chapter five. A handful of other individuals read the manuscript – in part or whole – at various stages, and for their invaluable criticisms, I thank Stephen J. Campbell, Nina L. Dubin, Romy Golan, Alexander Nagel, Jennifer Marshall, Richard Meyer, Michael Taylor, Anthony White and the unflagging Nicola Lucchi. Any errors or oversights that escaped their keen, collective eye are mine and mine alone. I must also express my gratitude to the three anonymous readers for Yale University Press, whose probing queries helped to make this a better book.
My editor, Gillian Malpass, receives my earnest thanks for her belief in this project from start to finish, as well as her patience during its seemingly interminable completion. My expert copy-editors Katharine Ridler and Judy Spours made the process enjoyable even in its challenges, while Alan Thompson of BGA Design contributed his expertise to the jacket. Elizabeth McWilliams lent a careful eye to every layout detail, right to the end; I could not have asked for a more patient or attentive designer. Valerie McGuire and Joanna Sheers proved the ideal research assistants, offering an endless supply of organizational wizardry, without which these images and their permissions might never have been assembled. My translations from the French and Italian benefited from the attentive revisions of John Goodman and Benedict Leca, and Nicola Lucchi, respectively. For his help with German, I thank my father, Hagop M. Merjian, and Stefanos Geroulanos and Vassiliki Stellakis for their assistance with Greek.
Friends and colleagues in a number of countries contributed time, advice, and good cheer which I recall with fondness – in Greece: Niki Loizidi, Ektoras Mavridis, and Costis Drygianakis; in Spain: Estrella de Diego, Juan José Lahuerta, Javier Pérez Segura, and the late Emilio Sanz de Soto; in the USA: John Alcorn, Paul Bennett, David and the late Judy Brush, Gerard Dapena, Dan Fox, Joe Grabarz, David Hurlburt, Nishan Kazazian, Paul Lauf, and Scott Swanson; in France: Anne-Marie and Roland Bourdier, Gilles and Véra Duval, Brigitte Marin, and Claire Mouradian; in Italy: Andrea Bacchi, Roberto Dulio, Sharon Hecker, Goffredo Henschel, Vincent Jolivet, Davide Lacagnina, Stefano Masi, Sonya Orfalian, David Piazzini, Shilpa Prasad, Alessandro Rabottini, and Guido Tintori. A few friends in Rome – Daniele Cassandro, Massimo Giannetta, Raffaello Masci, and Antongiulio Panizzi – made my years there, and every visit since, particularly memorable.
A few other individuals have inspired this study more than they know. I stumbled, a clueless freshman at Yale, into Jonathan Weinberg’s lectures on “Modernism and its Critics”; his commitment to modernist painting and the politics of its criticism have remained an example ever since. Heinrich von Staden’s classes on pre-Socratic philosophy were among the most inspired and inspiring I have ever had the privilege of following; if some trace of their insight into Heraclitus has rubbed off on these pages, however faintly, I will feel honored. I now live a block from the former studio of the late Leon Golub, whose fierce dedication to painting, razor-sharp intellect, and warm encouragement meant a great deal to me, as does the memory of his presence every time I walk past 530 Laguardia Place. Gianni Vattimo offered spirited conversation under the arcades of Turin, and Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi have become cherished friends and sodali. I have been privileged over the years to look and think together with a few artists – Thibault Hazelzet, Arturo Herrera, Merlin James, Dean Monogenis, and David Schutter – whose love of painting continues to nourish my own.
De Chirico studies are richer for the efforts of Ester Coen, who welcomed me into her home first as a graduate student, and throughout the years as I revised this manuscript. Her friendship and support were integral to its completion, from beginning to end. Paolo Baldacci has likewise proven an astute interlocutor and generous colleague, and his monograph on de Chirico remains for me a model of scholarship. Gerd Roos shared helpful suggestions and a vast archival knowledge of de Chirico’s life and work.
I could not have asked for more inspiring peers than the ones I encountered in my time at Berkeley, and who remain treasured colleagues: Jennifer Bethke, Julia Bryan-Wilson, André Dombrowski, Matthew Jesse Jackson, Jennifer Scappettone, Joshua Shannon, Deborah Stein, John Tain, Marnin Young, and especially Huey Copeland, Stuart J. Murray, Bibiana Obler, and my rock, Nina L. Dubin, without whose company many late nights of work would have been insufferable. Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby and the late Michael Rogin were inspirations as teachers, mentors, and political thinkers. The graduate students whom I have had the pleasure of teaching at Stanford, Harvard, and NYU have helped to shape my own thinking in turn; from Franco Baldasso, Lori Cole, Dan Hackbarth, Nicola Pezolet, Beatrice Sica, Gabrielle Sims, Melissa Swain, and especially Nicola Lucchi, I have learned as much as I have taught.
Since day one at NYU, my colleagues in the Department of Italian studies – Stefano Albertini, Maria Luisa Ardizzone, Nicola Cipani, Virginia Cox, David Forgacs, John Freccero, Ruth Ben Ghiat, and Jane Tylus – have welcomed this art historian into their lively midst with great warmth. The Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò has provided an exciting forum for symposia and encounters both academic and informal, and my daily arrival on its fourth floor has been made all the more enjoyable through the collegial presence of Genevieve Brightwell, Roberta Garbarini-Philippe and Stefania Pattavina. The Institute of Fine Arts, the Department of Art History, and the Maison Française have further enriched my time on NYU’s campus; in particular, Thomas Crow, Francine Goldenhar, Shelley Rice, Julia Robinson, and Patricia Rubin have proven gracious collaborators. I am also deeply grateful to a number of individuals whose friendship and encouragement have been vital to my work over the years: Stephen J. Campbell, Whitney Davis, Lisa Florman, Claudio Fogu, Romy Golan, Pamela Lee, David Lomas, Robert Lubar, Jody Maxmin, Alexander Nagel, Francesco Pellizzi, Lino Pertile, Christine Poggi, Lucia Re, Michael Rush, Jeffrey T. Schnapp, Edward J. Sullivan, Nancy Troy, and Anthony White. For his friendship, wit, and stubborn (in the very best sense) humanity, I owe particular thanks to Richard Meyer, who has taught me time and again what being a teacher, a scholar, and a humanist might mean.
The gratitude I bear for my advisers at Berkeley – without whom this book would have remained a quaint idea – exceeds the lines into which I must squeeze it: to Barbara Spackman, for her largesse and her humor, her sensitivity to theoretical arguments, and her prodigious understanding of modern Italian literature, politics, and culture. To Anne M. Wagner, for her insights into the early twentieth-century avant-garde, and her scrupulous dedication to the reading of images. And, finally, to T. J. Clark, who first urged me – against the stubborn grain of my own reservations – to work on de Chirico, and whose patience, intellectual generosity and intensity continue to inspire my work, in spite of its flaws. This book would have been unthinkable without Tim’s example and encouragement.
The Metaphysical City proved a solitary place to work; de Chirico’s spleen and Nietzsche’s brand of cheer made for rarefied company. On so many occasions I received from those close to me – even from afar – all the solace I could ever need. It is to you that I owe my (relative) sanity and sense of humor over this long haul: Sassan Alizadeh, Emily Coven, Ismail Elshareef, Amy Ferraris, Alexis Densen Higgins and family, Emily A. Dixon, Joan Durant, Soledad Gallen Guerrero, Kevin N. George, Carl Grimm, Kathryn Jones Bragg and family, Benedict Leca, Maria Loh, Leora Maltz-Leca, Robert Pacileo, Anant Raut, Veronica Raya Díaz, Sergi Rivero-Navarro, Antonio Rojas del Pozo, David Sherman, Alan Thompson, Ricardo Umaña and Rafa Reyes, and my anoushig Ojig Yeretsian and family. To mes meilleurs potes, Benoit-Philippe Duval and Fabien B. L. Bourdier, my time in Paris and elsewhere since would never have been, nor would be, the same without you; your friendship means the world to me.
To my parents, Agnes H. and Hagop M. Merjian, I owe everything, but most of all a love of language – an echo, I like to think, of my mother’s ear for puns, accents, and song, of my father’s for the poetry that filled the kitchen and his study; to those lessons no endnote would do justice. To Adrienne Merjian, Armen H. Merjian, Jivan Merjian-Minifee, June Scarlett, Marcus Minifee and Sofia Merjian-Minifee, thanks are due for the belly laughs that make everywhere and anywhere home. Finally, it is to the memory of my grandparents – Gülizar, Ludwig, Maryam, and Missak, all of whom I had the privilege to know and to love – that I dedicate this volume. The years that it treats witnessed their exile across an ocean less metaphorical and hardly metaphysical. Their sweat on these shores was matched only by a determination to laugh, the sediment of their memories leavened again and again by a will to build life anew.
Acknowledgments
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