In over fifty years of career Milo Manara, undisputed master of Italian and international comics, has created an imaginative world made of eroticism, adventure, cinema, art, literature... that has influenced generations of readers, authors, cartoonists, vignettes and comic book illustrators. A world made of stories, colors and shapes that you can now immerse yourself in even from Pola.

On Saturday evening, at the Galleria dei Sacri Cuori, Manara's works took shape in the exhibition "Milo Manara. Between comics, literature and cinema" curated by Paola Bristot. Organized by Comicon and Viva Comix in collaboration with the Archaeological Museum of Istria and the Istria Book Fair, the exhibition was officially declared open by none other than the cartoonist who, after thanking the large audience present, explained that all the drawings and sketches on display were made for printing and that, in theory, they should not have been shown. "But since I also like to visit the exhibitions of other cartoonists, perhaps to see their mistakes and corrections, I couldn't help but show mine too. I only hope that I managed to disguise them well and that you won't be able to spot them," said Manara.

A dream come true
“It's a dream come true,” declared the director of the Archaeological Museum, Darko Komšo, who has been passionate about comics since he was a child. “My passion for comics began thanks to Tex Willer and Alan Ford.” Thus the director, who explained to the public that he then became passionate about Corto Maltese, the adventurous sailor born from the pencil of another great Italian comics artist and illustrator, Hugo Pratt. “Later, however, I became passionate about the works of Manara,” said Komšo, who after having recalled that for about a month it has been possible to visit an exhibition dedicated to Hugo Pratt and Corto Maltese in the Galleria C8 in via Carrara, wanted to thank in particular the employees of the Museum, the curator of the exhibition, the director of COMICON Naples, Claudio Curcio, the person in charge of the Book Fair (of which Manara is the guest of honor), Magdalena Vodopija, and of course the maestro Milo Manara. Curcio also greeted the many people present at the inauguration of the exhibition.
“For 25 years we have been trying to promote comics as an art form in Italy,” the director emphasized, adding that only recently have we managed to organize the first exhibitions dedicated solely and exclusively to comics. “Therefore, I can only thank Darko Komšo and all the other enlightened directors like him. It is also thanks to them that comics finally manage to have the space and visibility they deserve. I hope that Magdalena, Darko, the Archaeological Museum of Istria and all its staff will continue to give space to comics and I hope that this collaboration between Naples and Pula can continue in the future,” Curcio concluded.

Accurate tables
: Something more about the exhibition alone was revealed by the curator Paola Bristot, who wanted to include among the publications on display some of Manara's most extraordinary works dedicated to his relationship with the visual arts, such as the Caravaggio panels, and his relationship with Federico Fellini, with “Viaggio a Tulum”. However, greater and particular space was given to Manara's work linked to Umberto Eco's work, “The Name of the Rose”. “I was admired and fascinated by these very accurate panels in which I did not find as many errors as the master claims”, declared the exhibition director, who then once again gave the floor to Manara, who was keen to reveal that all the panels and drawings in the comic book adaptation of “The Name of the Rose” were made with simple black ink and water, used to dilute the ink and create the shading. The cartoonist then explained that the colors that appear in the comic book adaptation of Umberto Eco's masterpiece and bestseller were added to the computer at a later time by his daughter Simona.

Deep closeness to cinema
Returning to the exhibition, the curator explained that the exhibition is divided into three main sections designed to highlight Milo Manara's graphic style. In the first section we find the intersection with literature and the original black and white plates of the first volume of "The Name of the Rose" alongside color reproductions. In the second section the exhibition delves into the collaboration with Fellini and therefore the master's deep closeness to cinema. In the third and final section, the relationship between comics and art overlaps and sometimes splits in a game of mirrors that ends up enchanting the public, who has the opportunity to admire the very faithful reproductions of the works of Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio, which reconstruct his stormy life with decidedly compelling images and plausible settings of a decadent and insidious Rome.

Marko Mrjenovic
Source: The Voice of the People – 27/11/2023