ABSTRACT
In the 1980s, Italians continued to see America as the New World, a place where pragmatism matched a constant search for innovation. The United States’ pioneering attitude and its investment in technological progress were interpreted as a need to shape the country’s own history and identity. Between 1945 and 1990, some Italian critics viewed American art as immature and naive when compared to the production of Italian artists, whose practice was influenced by century-long traditions. Italy remained critical of the culture of excess that permeated many aspects of the American way of life. The increased interaction with American artists both in Europe and the United States fostered comparisons between the art scene in Italy and the States. The reception of late 1960s American art–and in particular Minimalism, Conceptual art, and Land art–continued to spark discourse in Italy in the early 1970s.
