SALVATORE FANTASIA - CAIRO

The artist did not have a specific genre in which he specialized, but embraced several, from oil to watercolor, from tempera to pastel, with a high level of inventive freshness; perhaps his temperament was influenced by his long stay in Cairo (from 1892 to 1911), in that complex, mysterious, exotic world. Salvatore Fantasia has brought that world back to us in many of his canvases, which capture certain corners of markets—a veiled girl with large eyes, a sunset in the King's Valley. These were moments and memories that the painter held dear in his soul and transferred to canvas without intending to create masterpieces, even though he had attended the Leonardo Da Vinci Academy in Cairo, earning a diploma in painting and achieving considerable success at the 1908 International Exhibition of the French Artistic Circle. From 1912 to 1920, he was in Brindisi, his hometown, where he acquired the ability to render the light, the sun, and the atmosphere of our sea with great fidelity. From 1928 to 1930, he held "personal" exhibitions in Bari and Brindisi at the Circolo degli Artisti; there is a parenthesis in Bergamo in 1931, one in Rome the following year and in Siena in 1945. It is worth remembering his participation in all the group exhibitions of the Sienese Cultural Association from 1934 to 1958: he had in fact moved to Siena in 1935 where he remained until his death in 1959. He was a “pure” artist because he did not want to join schools remaining outside of movements and currents, but knew how to work in solitude disdaining honors and success, without participating in prizes or competitions, careless of medals and diplomas, an exemplary case at the very least as exhibitionism, careerism and compromise have been very fashionable in all eras both in the art field and in others. And this is why we must look with great interest at the works of Salvatore Fantasia, considering that he was a man who did not fight to gain the prestige and benevolence of the powerful who manipulate culture as a pretext for propaganda. In 1928, Savelli wrote of him: “ … he is a painter who goes beyond simple form and simple colour, so much so that his works are conceptual ” and Villani added a few years later : “… the broken lines of his drawings and the short, nervous brushstrokes of his paintings contribute to better rendering the vibrations of light and the atmosphere that envelop his character-filled images, be they landscapes or figures… ” Salvatore Fantasia lived in his artistic world as a master, not a servant; he sublimated his thoughts, creating highly effective canvases. He dreamed not of glory, but of the joy of life that he embodied in painting, work, and color.

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