Fabrizio Clerici: The Visionary Set Designer and Painter Rediscovered

The Mart in Rovereto has opened the exhibition 'Insomia,' curated by Denis Isaia and Giulia Tulino, exploring the friendship between painter Leonor Fini and Fabrizio Clerici (1913–1993), a Milanese-born architect, painter, and set designer who moved to Rome in 1920. Clerici graduated in architecture in 1937 and was influenced by Alberto Savinio, who introduced him to metaphysical and surreal painting. After a 1943 solo show in Milan, he returned to Rome, befriending surrealists like Leonor Fini and Stanislao Lepri, as well as writers Alberto Moravia and Elsa Morante. His set design debut came in 1947 for George Bernard Shaw's 'Mrs. Warren's Profession,' followed by work for Stravinsky's 'Orpheus' at La Fenice in Venice. Travels to the Middle East in 1953—Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Libya, Turkey—shaped his imagery of archaic symbols and fantastic desert architectures. He later designed sets for Giorgio Strehler, Alberto Lattuada, and Peter Ustinov. As a painter, Clerici received commissions such as the stained glass 'Faith of Saint Catherine' for the Basilica of San Domenico in Siena (1957). Major retrospectives were held at Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara (1983) and the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna in Rome (1990, and again in 2022 with 'L'atlante del meraviglioso' upon acquisition of his archive). The Mart exhibition now highlights his friendship with Fini, whom Luisa Laureati Briganti called 'a gentleman of other times.'