Almost an appendix to painting, for Guttuso the practice of drawing confirmed itself as one of the central aspects of his production.
His consideration of this art form is confirmed by the large number of sheets, notes, sketches, illustrations for texts and cartoons that have come down to him.
Regardless of the subject depicted, be it a landscape, a portrait an existing character or alive only in his imagination, the experience of drawing is understood by the artist, always as a moral commitment.
Pencil and India ink are the tools employed to take hold of what he sees, and which he captures on a sheet of paper, sometimes remediated accidentally, as if to counteract the inevitable fleetingness.
Guttuso’s drawing is not only an instrument for investigating the sensible world, but is charged, like his painting, with existential implications. Sicilian landscapes, the theme of workers, portraits of his mother, nudes, and the feminine universe are arranged, one after the other, as individual plots of an experience that is such only because it is composed of the whole of these fragments.
The section is enriched by the presence of drawings that were part of Guttuso’s private collection; works by Ugo Attardi, Sergio Vacchi, Franco Francese, Cesare Peverelli, Attilio Steffanoni, Vittorio Tavernari, Giosetta Fioroni, Tano Festa, Franco Angeli, Tano Zancanaro e Mirko Basaldella.
They are joined by those of international artists: the French Edouard Pignon and Paul Rebeyralle, the British Allen Jones, the American Philip Evergood, the Spaniard Josè Ortega, the Cuban Renè Portocarrero, and the German Carl Timner.
Donated by the authors or their heirs or from art collectors, works by Bruno Munari, Nicolò D’Alessandro, Momò Calascibetta, Roberto Stelluti, Gesualdo Prestipino, Placido Scandurra, Paolo Gubinelli and Angelo Savelli continue in the exhibition.
