Francesco Clemente

The Italian-American artist Francesco Clemente (*1952) is one of the main representatives of the postmodern Transavantgarde and Arte Cifra, the Italian version of Neo-Expressionism. Among his extensive oeuvre, the publication focuses on Clemente’s enigmatic self-portraits and presents insights into his latest works series.

Clemente’s travels, frequently alternatingbetween India, New York and Europe, contribute to the remarkably multi-faceted aspects of his works. The leitmotifs in his paintings and graphicworks, which vacillate between a figurative and abstract approach, are the human body as well as echoes of Indian culture and philosophy. The catalogue concentrates on the pastels, watercolours, gouaches and printed graphics, including important series like the Amalfi-Watercolors, the Tarots and the twelve-part series From the Terreiro,whose subject lies inthe poems of the Polish writer Adam Zagajewski, as well as the cycle of printed graphics onAlberto Savinio’s war diary Departure of the Argonaut.