Fortuny, estetica dell’atmosfera e biofilia della moda: pigmenti, morfologie e aura d’inizio Novecento

This article places the historical-critical reflection on the work of the artist, inventor and designer Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo (Granada 1871–Venice 1949) and of his closest collaborator, his wife Adèle Henriette Nigrin (Fontainebleau 1877–Venice 1965), within the framework of recent studies on the biophilia of fashion. In the last decade, an initial analysis has been undertaken to link Fortuny’s experiments with light–in painting, textiles, photography and set design–to the concept of atmosphere elaborated in philosophy by Gernot Böhme and Tonino Griffero. However, a study of Fortuny and Nigrin’s proto-ecological sensibility with respect to such a concept of atmosphere is lacking. Delving into the field of textile and clothing design that they developed in the early 20th Century, the article focuses on three interconnected atmospheric aspects: the aura radiated by the clouds, skyes, and water of the Venice lagoon; the relationship between fashion, bodies and vegetable morphology in the Art Nouveau; and the materiality of the pigments and fibers adopted. The article aims to demonstrate how Fortuny-Nigrin’s environmental thinking and their aesthetics of atmosphere participate fully to the idea of Total Work of Art.