L’occhio della Pittura,

Mino Maccari 

Date unknown 

Color Lithograph

L’occhio della Pittura, which directly translates to “The Eye of Painting,” portrays a man painting three women as flying demonic and monstrous creatures. The artist, Mino Maccari was an Italian painter working in the early 20th century. He was one of the founders of a political magazine, Il Selvaggio, or The Wild One which published his art and writings in support of Benito Mussolini, the leader of the fascist party in Italy at the time. Maccari published many political caricatures in various magazines throughout his lifetime which criticized opposing political parties. This print was likely created after the First World War, in which Maccari participated as a military officer. The print fits within the mood of this dark period during the aftermath of the war. The painter portrayed has a twisted view of reality, reflecting the misogynistic and anti-intellectualist fascist ideology of these years. An image imbued with hostility, mistrust, and hatred towards artists, it reveals the contradictions in Maccari's undermining of his own profession as he reduces the labor and creation of an artist to that of a wicked myth-maker.

Clara Hodsden