Mario Sironi “Manifesto of Mural Painting” 1933 reprinted in Art in Theory: 1900-2000. ed. Harrison and Wood pp. 424-425
“Fascism is a style of life: it is life itself for Italians. No formula will ever succeed in completely expressing it, let alone defining it. Similarly, no formula will ever succeed in in expressing, let alone defining, what is understood as Fascist art, that is to say, an art which is the plastic expression of the Fascist spirit.
Fascist art will be created little by little and will be the result of the slow labour of the best people. That which can and must be done straight away is to free artists from the numerous doubts which linger on.
In the Fascist state art acquires a social function: an educative function. It must translate the ethic of our times. It must give a unity of style and grandeur of contour to common life. Thus art will once again become what it was in teh greatest of times and at the heart of the greatest civilizations: a perfect instrument of spiritual direction” p. 425
“From mural painting will arise the ‘Fascist style’ with which the new civilization will be able to identify. The educative function of painting is above all a question of style. The artist will succeed in making an impression on popular consciousness by the style, by the suggestion of climate, rather than by the subject-matter (as the Communists think).” p. 425
Sironi follows some of the thoughts I already posted from Siqueiros and others. The term ‘Fascism’ literally derives from the make of Roman axes that lashed or bundled together small sticks to form a stronger axe handle. That etymological history can be seen in Sironi’s program for political art, which in Fascist Italy ‘acquires a social function’; ie manufacturing a unified Italian people and state. ‘Social’ art focuses on creating a sense of collective identity and worth, specifically through the use of a style of grandeur and religious/spiritual import.