Milo Manara rereads the Metamorphoses. His illustrations for Così Fan Tutte exhibited in Jesi.

A Milo Manara exhibition in Jesi: The Marche city is hosting the master of comics for the first time with an exhibition dedicated to him in the Betto Tesei Rooms of Palazzo Pianetti, Oct. 14-29, 2023. On display is a series of 24 new illustrations by Milo Manara, depicting the metamorphosis of Jupiter and created by the artist for the sets and costumes of the opening opera of the 56th Opera Season at Teatro Pergolesi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Così fan tutte to a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. The two-act dramma giocoso will be staged on Friday, Oct. 2023 at 8:30 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 22 at 4 p.m. (youth preview on Wednesday, Oct. 18 at 4 p.m.), with Aldo Sisillo on the podium of the FORM Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana, direction by Stefano Vizioli, lighting by Nevio Cavina, coordination by Benito Leonori (sets) and Roberta Fratini (costumes).

With the musical masterpiece by the great Salzburg composer, Manara makes his debut in the world of opera at the age of 78, as part of a new production, in which the Pergolesi Spontini Foundation, the co-production leader, is involved, along with Fondazione Teatro Verdi of Pisa, Fondazione Teatro Comunale Pavarotti of Modena, Teatro Sociale of Rovigo and Opéra-Théâtre of Eurométropole de Metz.

Milo Manara’s playful, colorful and vaguely licentious sign animates with his illustrations the wings, tulle curtain and proscenium with mythological scenes and characters: satyrs, nymphs and cupids, Venus and Apollo, Minerva and Mercury and the loves of Jupiter in his various guises that serve as frescoes in the house of Fiordiligi and Dorabella and refer to the love entanglements between the characters.

“If there is one work that lends itself to an all-painted setting, this is it,” explains Manara, who drew for the occasion an exceptional series of illustrations on Zeus’ metamorphoses, amid nymphs and satyrs, disguises and courtships characterized by elegant, enigmatic, timeless sensuality. “The myth fits the eighteenth century, when it was all the rage and gives me a way to represent at the top what is happening at the bottom. Anyone who reads Ovid’s Metamorphoses knows that it is full of disguises for the purpose of seduction-the swan with Leda, the bull with Europa, and even the eagle kidnapping the boy Ganymede and Venus seducing Callisto, and we go on the spicy side. This is a transgressive work, showing that even for women it is possible to have adventures outside of love, of engagement, which even in our days is not so obvious. Così fan tutte, then, is all about disguise; but in the end, by dint of dressing up, you lose the perception of your own identity.”

The pastel colors of scenes and costumes hark back to the pictorial trends of a stylized 18th century, among the ivory, pink and blue nuances that in Jesi triumph in the famous Galleria di Palazzo Pianetti, home of the Pinacoteca Civica, which houses Milo Manara’s original drawings in the Sale Betto Tesei.

From eroticism to science fiction and historical fiction, working alone or in collaboration with Hugo Pratt, Federico Fellini, Alejandro Jodorowsky or Umberto Eco, over the years Milo Manara (born in Luson, Italy, in 1945) has created illustrations all over the world and drawing on the artist’s abiding passion for beautiful tools and beautiful paper, and for the different techniques capable of bringing an image to life (sequential or otherwise). Manara’s images have nothing to do with fashion: elegant and enigmatic, they possess an absolutely timeless quality.

The exhibition is organized by the Pergolesi Spontini Foundation in collaboration with the Municipality of Jesi, Musei Civici di Palazzo Pianetti and with the contribution of Digitall, technical sponsor. Free admission, Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 4-7 p.m.

Milo Manara rereads the Metamorphoses. His illustrations for Così Fan Tutte exhibited in Jesi.

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