“Italian comic. Fifty years of illustrated novels" is an overview of the art of comics that aims to bring to the attention of the public the works that, regardless of the editorial capacity and genres, can boast, for the quality of the texts and drawings , of the qualification of novels.
The overview, made up of forty graphic novels written and drawn by as many authors, starts in 1967, the year in which the publication of "A Ballad of the Salted Sea" began, a masterpiece by Hugo Pratt, in which Corto Maltese appears for the first time , and continued in the following decades with extraordinary works including "Sheraz-De" by Sergio Toppi, "The Extraordinary Adventures of Pentothal" by Andrea Pazienza, "Fuochi" by Lorenzo Mattotti, "Max Fridman" by Vittorio Giardino, "Five thousand kilometers al secondo” by Manuele Fior, “Forget my name” by Zerocalcare, passing from the serial to the graphic novels.
The exhibition presents about three hundred original plates, arranged in chronological order and for the first time side by side, of comic novels written and drawn by a single author: from Hugo Pratt to Altan, Carlo Ambrosini, Ausonia, Dino Battaglia, Paolo Bacilieri, Roberto Baldazzini, Sara Colaone, Marco Corona, Elfo, Luca Enoch, Guido Crepax, Manuele Fior, Otto Gabos, Massimo Giacon, Gabriella Giandelli, Vittorio Giardino, Francesca Ghermandi, Gipi, Igort, Piero Macola, Magnus, Milo Manara, Lorenzo Mattotti, Attilio Micheluzzi, Marino Neri, Leo Ortolani, Giuseppe Palumbo, Andrea Pazienza, Tuono Pettinato, Sergio Ponchione, Davide Reviati, Filippo Scozzari, Davide Toffolo, Sergio Toppi, Pia Valentinis, Sebastiano Vilella, Vanna Vinci, Fabio Visintin, Zerocalcare.
The exhibition investigates very different narrative genres – action novels, psychological novels, biographical or historical novels, satirical novels, novels based on literary classics, novels contained in a single volume, serial novels – but which, thanks to the exhibition , appear as suggestive chapters of a long story made of images and words fused together by the alchemical language of the cartoons.
Along the halls of the Museum of Rome in Trastevere, the visitor will be able to immerse themselves in a world of unique characters, changing scenarios, colored palettes, Indian ink and dazzling whites to discover the works of the Masters of comics of yesterday and today. An unmissable appointment for the enthusiasts and an excellent opportunity for those who want to approach and deepen the "ninth art" in all its multiple expressions.
The project “Italian Comics. Fifty years of illustrated novels”, promoted by Roma Capitale – Capitoline Superintendency for Cultural Heritage, is a co-production of Agema Corporation and ViDi. The exhibition is curated by Paolo Barcucci and Silvano Mezzavilla with the scientific advice of Daniele Barbieri, Sergio Brancato, Stefano Cristante, Enrico Fornaroli, Pier Luigi Gaspa, Giulio Giorello and Luca Raffaelli.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog published by Skira which, in addition to essays on the subject, brings to the public's attention the incipits – made up of the first five pages in black/white and color – of all the drawn novels treated.
