Renato Guttuso & The Godfathers of Art

In looking back in a rear-view mirror, the stature of some painters may appear larger than is actually warranted. Renato Guttuso (1911-1987) was an Italian expressionist painter who was admired and revered in Italy but had little resonance or visibility in North America. A multi-million dollar treasure trove of art was forfeited to Italian authorities last week by a leading mafia financier, Beniamino Zappia,  now imprisoned and facing extradition for  financial crimes and gangsterism. Among the artwork confiscated were paintings by Renato Guttuso, Dali, Boldini and surrealist painter Giorgio de Chirico. It is ”Mafia Wars” in accumulation mode. ”He is part of a criminal organization, the Mafia, but has good taste,” said a spokesman for the Italy Direzione Investigativa Anti-mafia. ( Globe & Mail 27/6/09)

 

 

The seizure underscores the implication of deep- pocketed crime syndicates within the art world, and their ability to enter a domain where criminal prevention agencies such as Interpol have limited art crime resources and virtually no institutional infrastructure to combat the traffic of artistic goods . It is white collar crime of the very wealthy  operating on a global scale.  The stereotypical illiterate hood of the thirties is replaced by Ivy league MBA’s, bankers and investment brokers with cutting edge knowledge of modern currency laundering methods.This expertise has permitted criminal forays into paintings, ancient and antique vases, bronzes, statues, sculptures, organized forgeries and theft. Belgium is considered to be the epicenter of this trade.

The irony is Gattuso, a Sicilian, was deeply anti-mafia, anti-fascist, an ardent communist and recipient of the Lenin Peace Prize. His life in art was dedicated to expressing opposition to the abundant abuse of power he witnessed during his lifetime whether from the Cosa Nostra, Mussolinni or Italian royalty. he was also deeply opposed to orthodox Catholicism and  the reactionary conservatism of mainstream Papal thought for the greater part of his life. He felt the horrors of war were too easily  concealed under the religious cover of the ”sanctity of arms.” Guttuso’s work could be termed expressionistic social art though some surrealistic elements were introduced in his later work. He has also been termed an erotic painter.

 

 

Guttuso may be more famous as a social and political phenomenon, an icon of impeccable credentials for leftist Italians than, as a representation of  world class painting. There is a pure sense of color in his paintings and a rejection of most academic principles of painting which make the art sometimes  appear simultaneously naive and striking. The result is a ”new art” which is blunt, brash and populist in nature.

Guttuso’s canvasses are not noted for subtlety whether in terms of subject matter or technique. The level of draftmanship is considered acceptable but the compositional style is somewhat leaden and deflated, much like the institutions and practices he opposed. In fact some of the work seems outright corny and bumpkinish to be taken seriously. Yet the reflection of certain old fashioned beliefs, dogmatic or not has its own particular charm and well served the zeitgeist of the time. Perhaps it are these qualities of remembrance, provocation and corrosive romanticism that that have attracted the a

tion of  a new breed of art merchants who trace their ancestry and loyalties to Sicily.