by Enrico Maria Davoli
A few decades ago, art books printed by Fabbri, Rizzoli, Curcio, and other publishers marked an era in school studies and the reinterpretation of the past, which many artists were beginning to experiment with. Today, after TV and the internet drastically reduced the space available for print media, few of those commendable initiatives remain. The monographic inserts attached to the monthly magazine “Art e Dossier” still survive, while the weighty monographs on painting, sculpture, architecture, and design sold with daily newspapers have little impact.
One of the most valuable contributors to “Art e Dossier” is Rodolfo Papa, a painter and art historian who has produced excellent studies on various aspects of the art of Caravaggio, Rembrandt, and Leonardo, among other things. Papa is the host of Iconologie quotidiane, a television program that has been broadcast on RAI Storia since 2020. Iconologie quotidiane preserves and revives the concise, high-quality style of popularization we were accustomed to seeing in print. With seven episodes per series, the program has now surpassed forty episodes. Each six-minute episode is ideal for short, intense viewing and can be easily accessed on the RAIPlay platform, with several also available on YouTube. Each episode focuses on one work only, ranging in chronology from late antique mosaics to Andy Warhol. The program alternates shots of the presenter seated in his studio with images of the featured work and related pieces.
Unlike many italian and foreign art TV shows, which resort to sensationalism and hyperactivity when wandering through squares, streets, museums, archaeological sites and virtual environments in an attempt to convey a vast amount of information and images to viewers, Papa’s considerations are calm. His expertise, particularly in religious and theological fields where art historians usually lack knowledge, is evident in his work. He also cites useful bibliographic sources – an excellent habit. The common thread running through Iconologie quotidiane is clear; it is a programme dedicated to artistic masterpieces from western art history. At the same time, it is an investigation into the spiritual and religious dimension of existence, as developed, experienced and communicated through images over the centuries.
Homepage: a banner for "Iconologie quotidiane".