L'immagine della Cina e dell'Estremo Oriente sulla stampa periodica illustrata italiana d'inizio Novecento. Un caso emblematico

During the first decade of the 20th century, the interest in political events, as well as for society, customs and folklore of China, Japan and in general the Far East, knew in Italy an extraordinary and exponential development, due to historical contingencies and the sudden expansion and acceleration of the system of mass communication, shaping itself a fashionable cultural phenomenon. We can think, for example, about the great fame both of Mascagni's "Iris" and Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" in the opera field. In particular, the Russian-Japanese war and the Boxer Rebellion in China stirred great attention and curiosity among the Italian public. This is evident by the spreading of a whole genre of popular illustrated magazines - still almost completely unexplored - dedicated to these issues. They were treated by means of articles, frequently interchanging between news and sometimes macabre sensationalism, as well as through pictures: photographs, but above all colour plates in chromolithography made by a large group of designers emulating Achille Beltrame, who often gave up scrupulous adherence or realistic documentary to turn to a highly dramatic depiction of military and political events. The case of the periodical edited by Carlo Aliprandi, specifically titled «La Guerra in Cina. Cronaca illustrata degli avvenimenti nell'Estremo Oriente» ("The War in China. Illustrated chronicle of events in the Far East"), was emblematic. The magazine availed itself of the collaboration of designers such as Crotta, Forteri and Ramponi, and was an outstanding success, reaching the fourth reprinting. The paper therefore offers a true rediscovery of a phenomenon almost entirely lost in memory, that was indeed of great artistic, journalistic, social and sociological value in Italy during the first decade of the past century.