Conversation Piece, Rome, Italy (1974)

Artist/Designer: Luchino Visconti, Suso Cecchi d'Amico, Enrico Medioli, Pasqualino De Santis, Piero Tosi, Mario Garbuglia

Project Location: Rome, Italy

Style/Period(s):
No Style/Period Assigned.

Primary Material(s):
Glass, Ceramic, Fabric, Textile, Wood, Concrete, Paint, Electronics, Wool, Fresco, Color

Function(s):
Residential Structure, Entertainment, Film/TV Set

Related Website(s):

Significant Date(s):
18th Century, 20th Century, 1968, 1970-1979, 1970, 1974, 1975

Additional Information:
Publications/Texts in Print:
Kirkham, Pat, Sarah A. Lichtman, and Shax Riegler. “Mobilizing Material Culture: Collecting and Interiority in Luchino Visconti's Conversation Piece (1974).” Essay. In Screen Interiors: From Country Houses to Cosmic Heterotopias, 107–23. London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2021.
Bachmann, Gideon. “Review: Conversation Piece by Luchino Visconti.” Film Quarterly 29, no. 2 (Winter 1975–6): 55–7.
Bacon, Henry. Visconti: Explorations of Beauty and Decay. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Buford, Kate. Burt Lancaster: An American Life. New York: Knopf, 2000.
Calvera, Anna. “Gruppo di famiglia in un interno (Conversation Piece), Luchino Visconti (1974).” Design and Culture 1, no. 2 (2009): 195–7.
Canby, Vincent. “Film Festival: A ‘Conversation Piece’ by Visconti.” New York Times, September 27, 1975.
Canby, Vincent. “Film: Vulnerable Work by Visconti.” New York Times, June 24, 1977.
Cattaneo, Arturo. “Il vaso di Pandora in casa del Professore: Praz e Visconti.” In Piero Boitani and Patrizia Rosazza-Ferraris (eds.), Scritti in onore di Mario Praz, 83–95. Rome: Gangemi Editore, 2012.
Colaiacomo, Paola. “The Rooms of Memory: The Praz Museum in Rome.” In Harald Hendrix (ed.), Writers’ Houses and the Making of Memory, 127–36. New York: Routledge, 2008.
Colaiacomo, Paola. “La Dolce Vita.” In Piero Boitani and Patrizia Rosazza-Ferraris (eds.), Scritti in onore di Mario Praz, 17–29. Rome: Gangemi Editore, 2012.
Connolly, Cyril. “The House of Anti-Life.” Sunday Times, September 13, 1964.
Conti, Quirino (ed.). Conversation Piece: A Film by Luchino Visconti. Translated by Sylvia Notini. New York: Rizzoli International, 2014.
Corbett, Patricia. “Mario Praz Museum, Rome.” Apollo 142, no. 406 (December 1995): 13–14.
D’Amico, Masolino. “Mario Praz et le cinema.” In Blaise Gautier (ed.), Mario Praz, Cahiers pour un temps, 261–5. Paris: Editions du Centre Pompidou, 1989.
D’Amico, Suso Cecchi. “Il Destino dei Complici.” In Giorgio Treves (ed.), Gruppo di famiglia in un interno di Luchino Visconti, 17–18. Bologna: Cappelli Editore, 1975.
De Gaetano, Roberto. “Gruppo di famiglia in un interno: Le Cornici del Tempo.” In Veronica Pravadelli (ed.), Il Cinema di Luchino Visconti, 295–306. Venice: Fondazione Scuola Nazionale di Cinema, 2000.
De Giusti, Luciano. “Gruppo di famiglia in un interno, 1974.” In I film di Luchino Visconti, 138–44. Rome: Gremese Editore, 1985.
Drudi, Barbara and Patrizia Rosazza-Ferraris (eds.). Visitors Book: Ospiti a Casa Praz. Rome: Soprintendenza all Gallery Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea/Peliti Associati, 2012.
Eder, Richard. “Critic’s Notebook: Puff and Circumstance at Festival.” New York Times, October 3, 1975.
Fohr, Robert. “Scene di conversazione.” In Blaise Gautier (ed.), Mario Praz, Cahiers pour un temps, 145–51. Paris: Editions du Centre Pompidou, 1989.
Garbuglia, Mario. “Un Mestiere che Muore: Considerazioni e note sulla scenografia.” In Giorgio Treves (ed.), Gruppo di famiglia in un interno di Luchino Visconti, 21–7. Bologna: Cappelli Editore, 1975.
González-Palacios, Alvar. “Praz v. Visconti.” Translated by Sylvia Notini. In Quirino Conti (ed.), Conversation Piece: A Film by Luchino Visconti, 15–19. New York: Rizzoli International, 2014.
Hendrix, Harald. “Epilogue: The Appeal of Writers’ Houses.” In Writers’ Houses and the Making of Memory, 235–43. New York: Routledge, 2008.
Kael, Pauline. “The Current Cinema: Lazarus Laughs.” New Yorker, September 29, 1975.
Lichtman, Sarah, and Pat Kirkham. Screen Interiors: From Country Houses to Cosmic Heterotopias. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021.
Locke, Richard. “Grand Visconti.” Threepenny Review 136 (Winter 2014): 24–5.
Low, Adam (dir.). Arena: The Life and Times of Count Luchino Visconti. Two-part documentary. London: BBC4, 2002, 2003. Streaming Service.
Medioli, Enrico. “Come Aschenbach, è caduto in un inganno.” In Giorgio Treves (ed.), Gruppo di famiglia in un interno di Luchino Visconti, 11–14. Bologna: Cappelli Editore, 1975.
Poggi, Gianfranco. “Luchino Visconti and the Italian Cinema.” Film Quarterly 13, no. 3 (Spring 1960): 11–22.
Praz, Mario. “An Empire Flat in a Roman Palace.” Decoration, June 1937.
Praz, Mario. The House of Life. Translated by Angus Davidson. New York: Oxford University Press, 1964.
Praz, Mario. Conversation Pieces: A Survey of the Informal Group Portrait in Europe and America. University Park and London: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1971.
Praz, Mario. “Venti anni dopo.” In La casa della vita, new edition, 420–31. Milan: Adelphi, 1979.
Rappaport, Mark. “Luchino Visconti: Conversation Piece.” Essay/Liner Notes in Conversation Piece [English version]. United States: Raro Video, 2012. DVD.
Sanzio, Alain and Paul-Louis Thirard. “Violence et Passion (Gruppo di famiglia in un interno) 1974.” In Luchino Visconti Cineaste, 131–8. Paris: Editions Persona, 1984.
Schifano, Laurence. Luchino Visconti: The Flames of Passion. Translated by William S. Byron. London: William Collins Sons & Co., 1990.
Servadio, Gaia. Luchino Visconti: A Biography. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1981.
Stirling, Monica. A Screen of Time: A Study of Luchino Visconti. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979.
Strehlke, Carl Brandon. “Mario Praz: An Interior Life.” Art & Antiques, June 1984.
Tonetti, Claretta Micheletti. “Conversation Piece: A Film about Impossibility.” In Luchino Visconti, 169–79. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1997.
Treves, Giorgio (ed.). Gruppo di famiglia in un interno di Luchino Visconti. Bologna: Cappelli Editore, 1975.
Visconti, Luchino. Conversation Piece [English version]. Written by Suso Cecchi d’Amico, Enrico Medioli, and Luchino Visconti. United States: Raro Video, 2011 (Original release 1975). DVD.
Visconti, Luchino. Conversation Piece [Italian version with English subtitles]. Written by Suso Cecchi d’Amico, Enrico Medioli, and Luchino Visconti. United States: Raro Video, 2011 (Original release 1977). iTunes Streaming Service.
Weisman, Steven R. “Luchino Visconti, Film Director, 69, Dies.” New York Times, March 18, 1976

Building Address: Dear Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy, Incir De Paolis Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Tags: Rome, Italy, Film and Interiors, 1974, 20th Century

Significant Dates: 1974, Filming April-June 1974


Supporting Staff/ Designers: Mario Garbuglia, Carlo Gervasi, Dario Simoni

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