A novembre 2019, la famosa casa d’aste Christie’s organizza una speciale vendita dedicata al Fumetto.
Per l’occasione il Maestro Milo Manara ha realizzato 12 nuove illustrazioni, dove le protagoniste sono le donne dei suoi fumetti.
Manara returns to the world of comics with a project about the great artist Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio. A painter which Manara feels very attached to and whose adventures allow him create an interesting and complex screenplay. Produced by the French editor Glénat and published by Panini in Italy, the first volume, The Palette and the Sword, was released in 2015, while the second one, La Grazia, will be released in 2018.
Milo Manara has never hidden the inspirational debt towards Jean Claude Forest and her main heroine, the first of the erotic comic strip, the blonde Barbarella. Dino De Laurentiis commissioned a series of sketches to Milo Manara, for the realization of a remake ever made of the film “Barbarella” by Roger Vadim, dated 1967, with Jane Fonda. Here some studies of that commission. Milo Manara has also signed the Cover Variant of the Integral edition of the original comic book by Barbarella, which COMICON Edizioni has published in 2016.
In 2015 Milo Manara realizes characters related to the wines of his land.
A new way to stimulate the imagination through the palate. Thus began the project “Vini da Maestro”, a true casting of the senses for a story to be tasted to the end, which involves Master Manara in the creation of new beautiful illustrations from the ethereal shades of Rosso.
The Veronese artist has worked for more than a year on the realization of 25 watercolor illustrations dedicated to the legendary Brigitte Bardot. When Manara was called to create the series, he rediscovered the exciting feeling that, as a young author, he felt every time he tackled a new project: the desire to do well, but in this case also the fear of disappointing the subject concerned, who for Manara, as for the majority of the men of his generation, was a more than mythical character. Moreover, it had been more than 40 years, since 1968, when sculptor Aslan had portrayed her in Marianne, that Brigitte Bardot last gave permission to be represented by artists. With great devotion and attention, Manara has therefore started the operation that has seen him work for more than a year on 25 large format watercolor pieces showing BB in iconic situations that have left a mark in the imagination of entire generations. The 25 watercolor illustrations were signed on the back by the former actress, who also incorporated in each drawing her most personal symbol, a “seven-petal daisy”.
The character of Giuseppe Bergman shows up in An author in search of six characters and in Dies irae, both identified as The African Adventures of Giuseppe Bergman, usually published as a single adventure. Several people believe these are the most beautiful stories on the character: two original gems, impeccably drawn, rich of humour, adventure and eroticism. Manara demonstrates an overwhelming desire to narrate, to entertain but also to reflect and he leads the reader in an undiscovered Africa, which destroys all our prejudices on the dark continent. He keeps using meta-narrative standings and winks to the reader, such as the quote for the famous pièce by Luigi Pirandello. The stories are firstly published on Totem magazine and then they are collected in volumes published for Edizioni Nuova Frontiera.
Among the illustrations of Maestro Manara, those painted in watercolor are the most famous and impressive. To be in the presence of his original artwork is a breath-taking experience, for the ability of Milo to create such great beauty with this simple yet effective technique. The shadows, the light, the shades of color providing depth, all of this, makes his art so vivid, and exalts the female figures portrayed by the Veronese master. It is remarkable how in these images, the natural scenarios that act as a background for the sensual protagonists of the illustrations: water, sun, wind, seem to almost underline the “en plein air” impressionist vein of the bodies modeled by brushstrokes.
In 2016, the collaboration between Milo Manara and the French magazine Lui begins. The French magazine publishes the tributes that the Maestro makes to prominent women of contemporary culture, objective beauties and icons of modern imagery; especially cinema and TV series actresses, but also models and women of the world of entertainment. Large format illustrations and vivid colors, which magically play with the character they portray, leaving unchanged the erotic charge that these beauties embody.
One of the most original and heartfelt works by Milo Manara about the relationship between the painter (in art history) and the figure of the “model”. From the muses of Pompeian paintings to sensual women by Rubens, from the “cursed” model by Caravaggio to the eternal feminine reinterpreted in spectral shapes by Picasso. An incredible gallery of illustrations made in the style of the referenced artist; in original large format, impressive when experienced in person.
The works of Milo Manara have been protagonists and representative of many important festivals all over the world. It is incredible the ability of the master to customize the commissioned image, often interpreting a specific characteristic of the festival, the exhibition, or even just the location of reference, with a single clear illustration, always studied, researched and perfectly fit to promote the event. Like the wonderful “Trotula di Salerno”, or the Fellinian director of “CineManara”. A Manara work embellishes an event, draws the public into the street, and is often also suitable to become a poster to hang at home.
