CHELES, Luciano 1948-

PERSONAL: Born September 7, 1948, in Cairo, Egypt; son of Alberto (a computer engineer) and Agata (di Stefano) Cheles. Ethnicity: "White." Education: University of Reading, B.A., 1973; University of Wales, certificate in education, 1974; University of Essex, M.Phil., 1980; University of Lancaster, Ph.D., 1990. Politics: Labour. Hobbies and other interests: Travel, art and design, cinema, classical music, swimming.

ADDRESSES: Office—Department of Italian Studies, University of Poitiers, 86000 Poitiers, France. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: University of Lancaster, Lancaster, England, lecturer, 1978-94, senior lecturer in Italian, beginning 1994; University of Poitiers, Poitiers, France, professor of Italian studies, beginning 1998. Organizer of poster and photographic exhibitions on European propaganda in the twentieth century, 1981—. University of Lyons, visiting professor, 1994-95, 1996, 1997; lecturer on Renaissance art and contemporary propaganda in Italy, France, Germany, and England. Consultant to British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

MEMBER: Association for the Study of Modern Italy (member of board of directors, 1992), Society for Italian Studies, Society for Renaissance Studies.

AWARDS, HONORS: Grants from Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1989, and British Academy, 1990, 1993, 1997; Frontino-Montefeltro Prize, 1992, for The Studiolo of Urbino: An Iconographic Investigation; grant from Scouloudi Foundation, 1995.

WRITINGS:

The Studiolo of Urbino: An Iconographic Investigation, Pennsylvania State University Press (University Park, PA), 1986.

(Editor, with Ronald Ferguson and Michalina Vaughan) Neo-Fascism in Europe, Longman (New York, NY), 1991, revised edition published as The Far Right in Western and Eastern Europe, Longman (New York, NY), 1995.

(Editor, with Lucio Sponza, and contributor) The Art of Persuasion: Political Communication in Italy from 1945 to the 1900s, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1999.

Also author of Grafica utile: l'affiche d'utile publique en Italie. Contributor to books, including Atlante de Schifanoia, edited by Ranieri Varese, Panini (Italy), 1989; and Letture di storia dell'arte, edited by Ranieri Varese, Lavoro Editoriale (Italy). Contributor to Italian, French, and German scholarly journals.

SIDELIGHTS: Luciano Cheles once told CA: "My two main research areas are Renaissance art and contemporary Italian visual propaganda. I have approached both from the iconographic rather than stylistic standpoint. My main concern has been to investigate the way images are used for manipulative purposes. My book on the studiolo of the Ducal Palace of Urbino attempts to show that the room's decorations are a visual panegyric illustrating the political, humanist, and moral aspirations of its dweller and were intended to impress the illustrious visitors to the palace. My research on political posters aims essentially at revealing the visual/verbal rhetoric and subliminal techniques used by the main parties in Italy."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Historian, spring, 1997, W. Francis Ryan, review of The Far Right in Western and Eastern Europe, p. 683.

Times Literary Supplement, June 21, 2002, Peter Burke, review of The Art of Persuasion: Political Communication in Italy from 1945 to the 1990s, p. 30.

West European Politics, January, 1998, Noel O'Sullivan, review of The Far Right in Western and Eastern Europe, p. 231.*