Milo Manara. Artist's Lives - From Caravaggio to Fellini. This is the title of the exhibition set up for the first edition of Comicon of Bergamo International Pop Culture Festival. An initiative that is part of the rich and varied program of Bergamo-Brescia activities Italian Capital of Culture 2023
Milo Manara
The unpublished exhibition is dedicated to one of the best-known comic book authors in the world. The exhibition offers an in-depth exploration of the works of the Veronese cartoonist, placing a recurring dimension in his work at the center of the itinerary: the dialogue between art and life. A dimension that accompanies the production of Manara since the early years of its activity. And that throughout his career has prompted him to re-read the personal and creative trajectories of various protagonists in the history of painting, but also of music and cinema.
In this context the exhibition focuses, in particular, on the personalities of Caravaggio, Paolo Veronese, Picasso, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Federico Fellini, as interpreted and narrated by Manara. A gallery of exceptional lives, 'recreated' by the designer expressing his empathy in the form of a tribute to his masters and ideal references. A representation that is the result of passionate and meticulous historical investigations into their concrete, often complicated, existential events.
Artist's life
Among the original plates, particular relevance will be those created for the splendid and imposing historical-novel saga in two volumes dedicated to Caravaggio, . Precisely for Michelangelo Merisi, the Veronese master has always nurtured a special passion and, in the 2015 work dedicated to the master of the Baroque, he depicted him with the features of his friend and colleague Andrea Pazienza. This, working in depth on aspects and details capable of restoring the 'grain' of existence, from the town of origin in the Bergamo area to the splendours of Rome in which he found himself working.
Among the more than 60 works on display, mostly original, numerous comic strips but also rarely exhibited illustrations and personal documents. Among these are two drawings by Federico Fellini, donated personally by the director to Manara and the storyboards of comics sketched by the master of cinema himself. The exhibition also features a series of portraits of famous cinema and music artists, from Brigitte Bardot to Lucio Dalla, passing through Daisy Ridley and Franco Battiato.
