MATERIALS: Tempera on paper
DIMENSIONS: 70 × 106 cm
INSCRIPTIONS: Signed and dated on the verso, on the paper lower left: ‘fabio mauri 1962’, on the frame, lower left: ‘fabio mauri’
PROVENANCE: Fabio Mauri Estate, Rome; Erica Ravenna Fiorentini Arte Contemporanea, Rome
COLLECTION: Private collection, Milan
CATALOGUE: S_1962_176
A black band painted around the edges of a sheet of paper frames a Schermo (Screen) with rounded corners. On the bottom edge of the frame, cloud-like silhouettes from comic books represent the heads of a cinema audience against the light, creating a ‘theatrical backdrop’ that draws the viewer into the space of the work. Two 1960s versions of Schermo con pubblico differ in size and colour (inv. 176, 751). One was remade in the 1990s (inv. 3655); some woodcut-printed ‘artist’s proofs’ were created in the 1980s (inv. 333). For greater insight into the concept of ‘schermo’ in Mauri’s work, see the introductory essays.
1994, Rome, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Fabio Mauri. Opere e Azioni 1954-1994, 21 June – 5 October, curated by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Marcella Cossu.
2007, Castiglioncello (Livorno), Castello Pasquini, Il cinema dei pittori, 14 July – 4 November, curated by Francesco Galluzzi.
2009, Bologna, Fair – Galleria Michela Rizzo, Arte Fiera, 23–26 January.
2024, Vicenza, Basilica Palladiana, POP/BEAT – Italia 1960-1979, 2 March – 30 June, curated by Roberto Floreani.
Fabio Mauri, exhibition catalogue, Studio d’Arte Toninelli, Rome, edited by Cesare Vivaldi (Rome: Studio d’Arte Toninelli, 1969), p. 54 (ill.).
Fabio Mauri. Opere e Azioni 1954-1994, exhibition catalogue, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome, edited by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Marcella Cossu (Milan / Rome: Editoriale Giorgio Mondadori / Carte Segrete, 1994), p. 97 (ill.).
Il cinema dei pittori: Le arti e il cinema italiano 1940-1980, exhibition catalogue, Castello Pasquini, Castiglioncello (Livorno), edited by Francesco Galluzzi (Milan: Skira, 2007), p. 147 (ill.).
Laura Cherubini, Andrea Viliani, “La pittura è una storia italiana. Prima che la pittura ritorni: 1959-1979”, in Flash Art, Year 52, no. 343, Milan, March–April 2019, p. 39 (ill.).
POP/BEAT – Italia 1960-1979, exhibition catalogue, Basilica Palladiana, Vicenza, edited by Roberto Floreani (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2024), p. 152 (ill.).
