Il Michelangelo 

Tano Festa made this screen print, titled "Il Michelangelo," sometime in the mid-20th century. Festa, an Italian artist, has rendered a detail from Michelangelo's work using bold colors and simplified forms. It's a Pop Art move that takes the aura of a Renaissance master and flattens it into an image, more graphic than representational. In postwar Italy, in the wake of Fascism, the culture was being reshaped by American mass media. Festa looked at how high and low culture could be hybridized. He also challenged the institutions of art. Is he paying homage to Michelangelo? Or is he critiquing the way the art world elevates certain figures to almost mythical status? To understand Festa, you need to look at the climate of postwar Italy. Consider how that nation was being reshaped by American mass media, and how artists looked at questions of value and authenticity. That's the work of the art historian. The meaning of art changes in light of social and institutional contexts.