Art History Professor Katie Larson's Article Published in Prestigious Art Journal

The Department of Art and Art History is thrilled to announce that Art History Professor Katie Larson’s article “Alberto Burri and the Image of the Body in Post-Fascist Italy: Reconsidering the ‘Wound’ Motif” has been published in the Fall 2020 issue of Art Journal.

The article re-evaluates the traditional interpretation of Burri as a “doctor-turned-artist” who healed and sutured “wounded” canvases. It traces the origins of the myth, tying it back to specific political and cultural conditions in Italy in the immediate postwar moment. It reconsiders the meaning of the “wound” motif through an examination of a forgotten set of drawings, which, Professor Larson argues, provide evidence for the ways in which Burri sought to use his artistic practice to come to terms with his Fascist past.

An interesting side fact, Alberto Burri was a trained physician who, during World War II was in the Italian army. Captured by the Allies, he was interred in a POW camp in Hereford, Texas (just southwest of Amarillo). It was there, with YMCA donated supplies, he began painting. Upon return to Italy, he eventually decided to stop practicing medicine and focused his life on experimenting with different mediums and became a full-time artist.

Art Journal is one of the top-tier premiere academic art journals, so please join us in congratulating Professor Larson on this wonderful achievement!