Forty years of cultural, social, and artistic life quickly unfold before the reader of these pages. Lea Vergine, in her role as a critic mediating between the artwork and its viewer, brings into the public conversation movements, radical artistic turns, and the figures of key protagonists.

“I was watching, taking notes, jotting down observations,” the author says of herself, recalling the first steps of her critical experience. And, it should be added, “I was describing.” Lea Vergine’s descriptions grasp the observed object and render it discursively through its revealing details, offering the reader a predominantly “visual” knowledge of the artistic fact. The writings collected in this volume summarize, for the first time, the author’s entire activity, throughout its temporal development and in the completeness of its forms (essays, catalog introductions, articles, reviews). The writing excerpts that make up Parole sull’arte, often brief and lined up in quick succession, form a dense repertoire of images and artists’ lives, a “recipe book” in which the formulas and technical resources of art after the end of the painting are preserved. The story of modern and contemporary art woven by Lea Vergine through mysterious paths reconnects with ancient narratives of artistic events, Renaissance and even earlier.

Lea Vergine is the author of numerous publications on contemporary art, including Il corpo come linguaggio/Body Art (Prearo 1974), Attraverso l’Arte/Pratica Politica (Arcana 1976), L’Arte ritrovata (Rizzoli 1982), L’Arte in gioco (Garzanti 1988), Gli ultimi eccentrici (Rizzoli 1990), Arte in trincea (Skira 1996), Body art e storie simili, new edition of Il corpo come linguaggio (Skira 2000), Ininterrotti transiti (Rizzoli 2001) and, together with E. Fermani and S. Lambiase, Capri 1905-1940. Frammenti postumi (Feltrinelli 1983, La Conchiglia 1993, Skira 2003). She has organized conferences such as Arte: utopia o regressione? (Mazzotta 1992) and La scena del rischio. Follia e rassicurazione nelle arti di oggi (U. Allemandi 1998). She has curated numerous art exhibitions including L’altra metà dell’avanguardia, Milano, Palazzo Reale, Roma, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Stoccolma, Kulturhuset 1980-1981; Arte cinetica e programmata, Milano, Palazzo Reale 1983-1984; Carol Rama, Milano, 1985; Geometrie Dionisiache, Milano, 1988; Quando i rifiuti diventano arte/Trash, Rovereto, MART, 1998; D’Ombra, Siena, Palazzo delle Papesse, Museo di Nuoro, Museo Compton Verney, England (2006-2007). She is co-author of the exhibition Il bello e le bestie, Rovereto, MART 2004-2005.

With the contribution of Fondazione Cariplo