Manara - Esmeralda et Corto Maltese Hommage à Hugo Pratt, 2023

Milo Manara   Famous Artists

Born in 1945, Milo Manara is an Italian artist and comic book author.

He studied architecture and financed his studies with the help of his talent. A master of sensuality, he was able to earn money with his charming drawings. Once he finished school, Barbarella's booted thighs, Jean-Claude Forest's and Jodelle's space vamp, the pop art hero of Belgian Guy Peelaert convinced him to pursue a career on the 9th Art. After working on Jolanda the pirate, he adapted "the Decameron of Boccaccio" to cartoons.

By the end of the 80s, he made a piece where he depicted a woman under the influence, the piece was called "Le Déclic" the image was censored, but the critics and the public praised his work. In 1987, he received the Alfred for best foreign album at the Angoulême Festival for "An Indian Summer" made with his friend Hugo Pratt. Whether he uses the story of Giuseppe Bergman, Borgia, X-Men or Caravaggio's, Milo Manara always manages to successfully defy the morality of his brush strokes which are free from any taboo.

However his work can not be reduced to his naughty images. The erotic beauty of his trait hides Milo Manara real thoughts about women whose aesthetics has serve as a model for othe painters. The influence of Caravaggio can be perceive in the way Milo Manara perceives and portraits women. The artist knows how to spark sensuality in the soul and a taste of invisible perfume between two feminine curves.

In 2016, Milo Manara used the model of eternal beauty, Brigitte Bardot, to make a collection, he painted twenty-five portraits of her. For this art lover, women are simply part of the fundamental parameters of human representation. She represents our terrestrial roots and a form of divine projection.