Francesco Clemente Pinxit (Primary Title)
Francesco Clemente, Italian, born 1952 (Artist)
“It could be a step forward to realize that the rational picture of the world is also an imagination; it has the same reality as a myth. It is the product of the mind; it is not more substantial than the mind.” —Francesco Clemente
Clemente was part of the Transavantgarde—the Italian version of Neo-Expressionism that reintroduced myth, history, and the figure as subjects for art. Clemente’s work offers a metaphorical universe of erotically charged imagery, often concerning fundamental contradictions: wholeness and fragmentation, freedom and limitation.
Clemente made these works on handmade rag pages from a two-hundred-year-old Indian book that was considered of no particular value, a common practice in India, where the artist sometimes lives. Clemente wiped off the water-soluble text but preserved the borders, within which he painted his own “Indian” miniatures. He uses Mughal, Rajput, and early Renaissance conventions to create potent yet ambiguous scenes similar to dreams and fairy tales.
Late 20th Century Works on Paper, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA, February 18 – May 16, 1993
Francesco Clemente: Three Worlds, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, October 21 – December 23, 1990; Wadsworth Athenaeum, Hartford, CT, January 20 – March 17, 1991; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, April 11 – June 2, 1991
A Figurative Perspective: Recent Paintings and Sculpture from the Virginia Museum, Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA, March 12 – May 21, 1989
Francesco Clemente Pinxit, Albright Knox Gallery, Buffalo, NY, October 14, 1986 – January 4, 1987; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA., February 9 – March 29, 1987
Content: A Contemporary Focus, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC, October 4, 1984 – January 6, 1985
New Painting, Drannert Art Museum, Champaign, IL, January 27 – March 11, 1984
Issues: New Allegory I, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA, January 12 - December 28, 1982
Image Innovations: The Europeans, Institute for Contemporary Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA, May 10 – June 12, 1983
Francesco Clemente, Seprone Westwater Fischer Gallery, New York, NY, May 2 - 30, 1981
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