Antonio Ligabue (1899-1965) - Il Leopardo

ANTONIO LIGABUE - IL LEOPARDO 1978
DIMENSIONI FOGLIO 70 X 50 CM
DIMENSIONI INCISIONE 25,5 X 22 CM
ESEMPLARE N. 78/150

A graphic work by Antonio Ligabue, a beautiful posthumous etching, the piece that depicts a leopard, among the exotic animals favored by the painter who lived in the Lower Po Valley and ended up in an asylum for his eccentricities. An artist with a troubled life, illiterate, he was expelled from Gualtieri, the town where he had lived, misunderstood and scorned. Subsequently, reduced to poverty, the municipality gave him a room in the local asylum.
He was discovered by sculptor Marino Mazzacurati. His self-portraits, the animals—both wild and domestic—and his Moto Guzzi motorcycles were famous. He experienced the Reggio Emilia Psychiatric Hospital three times. In 1961 a major exhibition organized in Rome revealed him at a national level. He spent his final days in Gualtieri in 1965; after his death there was a surge of efforts by critics and artists that contributed to the creation of a Museum/Foundation dedicated to him. He also gained great popularity from a television miniseries, in which the artist’s role was played by actor Flavio Bucci.