Not just music: the Uffizi dedicates an exhibition to Paolo Conte's drawings

Paolo Conte is not only one of Italy’s greatest songwriters, he is also an interesting visual artist. And the Uffizi for the first time is dedicating an exhibition to him, titled Nostalgia di un golf, a sweet blue wool sweater-a citation for an exhibition exploring Paolo Conte’s graphic work. Curated by the director of the Uffizi Galleries Eike Schmidt together with Chiara Toti, the exhibition, scheduled from October 16, 2023 to January 7, 2024, offers for public viewing, in the recently opened graphic art rooms on the second floor of the Gallery, a selection of 69 drawings, including many never before exhibited and never before exhibited, made by Paolo Conte from the 1970s to the present.

Since the beginnings of his very long musical journey, the famous singer-songwriter from Asti has also devoted himself to art with identical passion, combining the practice of drawing with his authorial production and often illustrating the covers of his albums himself. The subjects, as well as the lyrics of his songs, pungently and evocatively tell fragments of life, and like snapshots capture the essence of larger narrative contexts. In the multitude of characters, objects, cityscapes and dreamlike visions that color the dynamic universe of his works, it is possible to identify an original elaboration of modernist and expressionist influences, represented through a wide variety of techniques (markers, pastels, watercolor). In his visual choices, as well as in his musical ones, Conte draws inspiration from the artistic explosion of the avant-garde movements of the early 20th century, which he considers as the main and necessary point of reference for any kind of artistic expression.

His characteristic “jazz” perception of art emerges with great fullness in themultimedia work Razmataz, which he himself calls a “sonorized storyboard”: formed by a collection of drawings, accompanied by music and dialogues, it recounts an encounter-clash between different cultures in a smoky, chaotic and seductive 1920s Paris. Some of Razmataz’s more than 1,800 illustrations can be seen at the Uffizi, but the exhibition consists mainly of previously unpublished materials, however. On Jan. 7, at the end of the exhibition, Paolo Conte will donate his 1978Self-Portrait of a Pirate to the museum, thus joining the world’s largest and most prestigious collection of artist self-portraits.

“I have already had occasion to confess that the vice of painting and drawing is in my life older than that for music and songs, confessing also that musical composition maneuvers on me in the form of excitement, while painting and drawing give me calm and lightness,” says Paolo Conte. "After the exhibitions held on the occasion of the publication of my multimedia work Razmataz in the corresponding dvd of which 1,800 of my illustrations had been mounted, my frequentation of the fine arts came to a halt, partly because of the legitimate concern that that much notoriety acquired as a songwriter might lead one to think that I wanted to take advantage of it to enfranchise myself to another different limelight. So, then, my works returned to my drawers, precisely like the nostalgia of a very sweet blue wool sweater. Now, accepting Eike Schmidt’s honorable invitation, some of my works on paper will be re-presented to the public and enthusiasts in the prestigious Uffizi Gallery."

“So many artists,” emphasizes Uffizi director Eike Schmidt, “have been talented musicians and composers (one among them: Leonardo), and in the Uffizi’s collection of self-portraits we see that some painters have depicted themselves with the instruments they played, which evidently constituted such an important complement to their personality that they had to present them next to their own effigy. Thus, Paolo Conte’s exhibition also aims to bear witness to the great musician’s dual artistic soul, and to bring to the public’s attention this perhaps lesser-known but no less fundamental aspect of his creativity. We are infinitely grateful to him for the gift of his Self-Portrait of a Pirate, finally, which in the self-flagellating bizarreness of its title immediately reminds us of the supreme irony, the irreverent force of the titles and lyrics of his songs.”

Pictured: Paolo Conte, Ciclista rosso (1996)

Not just music: the Uffizi dedicates an exhibition to Paolo Conte's drawings

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