E quindi uscimmo a riveder le nuvolette. Dante in Comics
23 November 2021 h. 18:00
Societa’ Dante Alighieri – Johannesburg
Free admission
Exhibition curated by MaMa Comics and Alberto Brambilla for the Italian Cultural Institute of Pretoria
On the occasion of the commemorations for the 700th anniversary of the death of the great poet Dante Alighieri, the Italian Cultural Institute of Pretoria, in cooperation with the Dante Alighieri Society in Johannesburg, the Embassy of Italy in Pretoria and the Consulate General of Italy in Johannesburg invite the public to the exhibition And then we went out to see the clouds again. Dante in Comics. A path that tells how Dante’s work has shaped the imagination of Italian comics.
The Divine Comedy is one of the oldest and most famous works in the Italian language. It was composed by Dante Alighieri, Florentine poet, in the early fourteenth century: over 14,200 verses, divided into three canticles and a hundred songs, to tell the allegorical journey of the poet in the afterlife, through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise
700 years after the death of Dante Alighieri, the Divine Comedy has become one of the cornerstones of Italian literature and culture: every child in Italy studies it at school, and its verses are in many cases so well known that they have become idioms. In seven centuries, the story of Dante’s journey through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise has been a source of inspiration for paintings, literary works, films and video games – and for many comics. Every cartoonist, from the most serious to the most ironic, told Dante’s journey into the afterlife with different images and stories. In the last hundred years, there have been numerous works of the ninth Italian art that have taken their cue from the most famous poem in Italy. Some comics are didactic, designed to complement school study in a fun way; others are humorous or satirical, and make fun of the great poet or use his images to smile at contemporary society; still others are adventurous, if not horror, and plunge the protagonists into the horrors of Dante’s Inferno. In these works appear Dante and Virgil, the devils, Beatrice; but also Charon, Minos, Paolo and Francesca, Farinata degli Uberti, Count Ugolino. In the path of And so we went out to see the clouds again, we will discover how these characters have been told and depicted by some of the most important authors of Italian comics: there are those who have re-proposed in images the entire history of Dante, and those who have grafted ideas and quotes in the most diverse fantasy worlds.
From La rovina in commedia by Benito Jacovitti, one of the most important Italian humorous cartoonists, to the famous Disney story L’Inferno di Topolino by Guido Martina and Angelo Bioletto. From the funny Divine Comedy in comics by Marcello Toninelli, who takes up the original work with didactic attention, to the humorous stories created by Adriano Carnevali for La Contea di Colbrino and Sandro Dossi, with his version of the good devil Geppo. From the futuristic Inferno by Nathan Never, the popular series by Sergio Bonelli Editore, to the infernal adventure lived by Cattivik, the humorous thief created by Bonvi and also told by Moreno Burattini and Giorgio Sommacal; from the political satire of La Commedia diabolica by Renzo Maggi to the Inferno of No Name, a failed and undead superhero by Davide Barzi and Oskar.
And so we went out to see the clouds again will be shown at the DANTE ALIGHIERI SOCIETY, 62 Houghton Dr, Houghton Estate, Johannesburg, on 23rd November at 18:00, with free admission.
MaMa Comics is composed of Maria-Angela Silleni and Maya Quaianni, experts in the field of comics and visual communication, in Italy and abroad. Maria-Angela works in publishing as an editor, translator and freelance columnist; Maya deals with communication and academic research on the ninth art in Italy and Spain. Together, since 2016 they have been organizing the Bricòla independent comics festival in Milan. As MaMa Comics they propose ideas for exhibitions, meetings and publications to promote the unique relationship between Italian and cartoon clouds.
Alberto Brambilla is a collaborator of the information and culture site of comics Fumettologica.it and has curated from 2011 to 2019 the exhibitions of WOW Spazio Fumetto, the comics museum in Milan, including the exhibition Dante che mito! (2015).
Project graphics: Laura Ritorto
Panel layout: Giulia Panzeri
