Giulio Carlo Argan Biography
Giulio Carlo Argan was born in Turin on 17 May 1909. In the 1920s he frequented the Gobettian cultural environment and, after having attended the Cavour classical ice school, he trained at the University of Turin. In 1928 he joined the National Fascist Party towards which he developed an increasingly critical attitude, following the model of Croce and Lionello Venturi, while choosing to continue working within the institutions of the regime. During his early studies he was mainly interested in architecture: in 1930 he debuted with the articles Palladio and neoclassical criticism and The critical thought of Antonio Sant'Elia; in 1931 he graduated with the thesis "The theory of architecture of Sebastiano Serlio". Argan's rapid professional rise was encouraged by the fascist hierarch Cesare Maria De Vecchi, then Minister of National Education. In 1936-37 he published two small volumes on medieval architecture and in 1937-38 an art history manual for high schools. In the early 1940s he collaborated regularly with the magazine Primato, founded and directed by Giuseppe Bottai, and with Il ventuno futuro, founded by Felice Chilanti, Francesco Pasinettti and Vasco Pratolini. In 1995 he began teaching at university in Palermo and then in 1959 in Rome; he was director of the modern section of the Universal Encyclopedia of Art and participated in the founding of the publishing house Il assayatore promoted by Mondadori. In 1958 he joined the Council Superior for Antiquity and Fine Arts, in which he will gravitate in various capacities at least until the establishment of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage in 1974; he also becomes a member for Italy of the Comité International d'Histoire de l'Art, of which he will be elected president in 1979. His representative role was also confirmed by the International Association of Art Critics, which appointed him president in 1963. In the 1960s he played a leading role in the debate on the development of the most modern currents: from informal to Gestalic art from pop art to poor art up to the elaboration of the thesis on the "death of art", that is, the irreversible crisis of the system of traditional art techniques in industrial and capitalist society. In 1962 he created the ISIA in Rome, an institution for the training of young designers. Also in that year he became president of the cultural association "Cenacolo di Torre Orsina", strongly supported by his sculptor friend Aurelio De Felice. Over the years he continued his activity in defense of the artistic heritage: in 1982 he donated his library to the University of Rome La Sapienza, from which he was awarded the title of Professor Emeritus, and ten years later he founded the Bianchi Bandinelli Association with the aim of promoting dialogue and cooperation between the world of research and that of protection. He died in 1992.
