The peculiar characteristic of Giovanni Testori’s compositional process is the fruitful exchange between words and images. The experience as writer-painter of Testori, places him in the category of ‘double talent’ (Doppelbegabung), developed in the context of the visual studies. Through the application of some foundational concepts of Visual Culture, the essay focuses the Testori’s intermedial strategy, his ability to cross boundaries between languages, through the practice of ékphrasis, and the semiotic translation of visual codes in literary writing. The critical novelty introduced by the essay concerns the hypothesis and the demonstration, through specifics poetic and pictorial case studies, of the triple declination of Testori’s ‘double talent’: as a writer-painter; as an author who has used the ékphrasis in an interpretative, emotional and revelatory way; and inasmuch visual-verbal artist, whose ‘reciprocal illuminations’ between arts of word and arts of figure are the result of a precise genetic concurrence, on which is founded, in fact, the whole Testori’s imaginary.
La caratteristica peculiare del processo compositivo di Giovanni Testori è lo scambio fecondo fra parole e immagini. L’esperienza di scrittore-pittore dell’intellettuale lombardo lo colloca nella categoria del ‘doppio talento’ (Doppelbegabung), elaborata nel contesto degli studi di cultura visuale. Proprio attraverso il recupero di alcuni concetti fondativi della Visual Culture, il saggio mette a fuoco la strategia intermediale di Testori, la sua capacità di superare i confini tra i linguaggi, attraverso la pratica dell’ékphrasis, e la traslazione semiotica di codici visivi nella scrittura letteraria. La novità critica introdotta dallo studio riguarda l’ipotesi e la dimostrazione, tramite specifici case studies di ambito poetico e pittorico, della triplice declinazione del ‘doppio talento’ di Testori: in quanto scrittore-pittore; in quanto autore che ha utilizzato la tecnica dell’ékphrasis in modo interpretativo, emozionale, rivelatorio; e in quanto artista verbo-visivo, le cui ‘reciproche illuminazioni’ tra arti in parola e arti in figura sono il risultato di una precisa concrescenza genetica, su cui si costituisce, di fatto, l’intero imaginary testoriano
La parola negli occhi. Il genio di Testori tra letteratura e arti figurative
Laura Pernice
2019-01-01
Abstract
The peculiar characteristic of Giovanni Testori’s compositional process is the fruitful exchange between words and images. The experience as writer-painter of Testori, places him in the category of ‘double talent’ (Doppelbegabung), developed in the context of the visual studies. Through the application of some foundational concepts of Visual Culture, the essay focuses the Testori’s intermedial strategy, his ability to cross boundaries between languages, through the practice of ékphrasis, and the semiotic translation of visual codes in literary writing. The critical novelty introduced by the essay concerns the hypothesis and the demonstration, through specifics poetic and pictorial case studies, of the triple declination of Testori’s ‘double talent’: as a writer-painter; as an author who has used the ékphrasis in an interpretative, emotional and revelatory way; and inasmuch visual-verbal artist, whose ‘reciprocal illuminations’ between arts of word and arts of figure are the result of a precise genetic concurrence, on which is founded, in fact, the whole Testori’s imaginary.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
