Mattia Jona, Master Drawings and Prints, Japanese Prints - Piazzetta Guastalla 5, 20122 Milan, Italy, tel (+39) 02 8053315

BRUNO CARUSO (Palermo 1927) IN THE PENAL COLONY
Pen and china ink, red ink, black chalk. Inscribed with the final text of Kafka's story in Italian and signed 'Bruno Caruso'. On thick wove paper with watermark 'C.M. FABRIANO'; 170 x 250 mm.
The literary works of Kafka, which Caruso knew during a stay in Prague when he was twenty years old, have been an important inspiration for the artist, who has devoted several drawings to them throughout his career. Many illustrate the short story 'In the Penal Colony' (In der Strafkolonie, 1914/18). We can read, here on the web, a nice article written by Caruso himself, in 2005, about his drawings inspired by the Praguese writer.

Bruno Caruso started to draw in his childhood, following the example of the Old Masters. His long and distinguished career began after the end of World War II when he explored issues related to the war, the holocaust, and fascism. In his first one-man show in Palermo he exhibited a collection of drawings inspired by the ruins of the war, social and civil engagement being a constant element of his art. Caruso’s drawings executed in the Fifties in the asylum in Palermo documented the condition of the inmates in the mental hospitals and contributed to the psychiatric reform. In the following years he exhibited in Paris, Zurich and London and published in the magazines 'Time', 'Life' and 'Fortune'. In 1959 he finally established himself in Rome. Gifted by an impressive ability and natural skill, Caruso is an extraordinary artist who draws and paints as the Old Masters used to do. He is also a great engraver and graphic artist, a subtle humorist and writer, one of the most renown representatives of the figurative tradition and essay writing of the post-war period in Italy.