Flex Mentallo

The anguish of the earth absolves our eyes Till beauty shines in all that we can see. War is our scourge; yet war has made us wise, And, fighting for our freedom, we are free. Horror of wounds and anger at the foe, And loss of things desired; all these must pass. We are the happy legion, for we know Time’s but a golden wind that shakes the grass. There was an hour when we were loth to part From life we longed to share no less than others. Now, having claimed this heritage of heart, What need we more, my comrades and my brothers? Seigfried Sassoon

The War to End All Wars

My pleasure - I continue to edumacate myself in the process! It is an interesting transition from father to son - Fortunino seems less theatrical, more cinematic...

I'll upload many more of Matania's spectacular images tomorrow!

Wally Wood was obviously an admirer!

During WW II, many of his paintings and drawings were destroyed when his studio was bombed in the Blitz. He was so prolific, however, that many examples of his art still survive. Matania's illustrations for Edgar Rice Burroughs' Pirates of Venus (1933) and Lost on Venus (1933-34) compared favorably to the best in the field, and many modern day artists were likely inspired by Matania's sensuous style of illustrating. This may look familiar even if you've never seen it.

In his studio he maintained an enormous collection of artifacts to aid him in his work. He rarely made preliminary sketches, preferring to begin an elaborate illustration without previous preparation. It was as if he had an exact mental photograph of the art before he began to paint or draw. His reputation was such that he was visited in his studio in London by Annigoni, Russell Flint, and John Singer Sargent, and his work is collected and admired by many of today's greatest artists and illustrators.

He was an expert at historical scenes from all periods of history and his Ancient Roman and classical illustrations are particularly admired and collected.

He contributed regularly to the English publication Britannia and Eve -stories of kings and queens, conquerors, adventurers, famous women of history, etc, and The Passing Show, where his Edgar Rice Burroughs and When Worlds Collide illustrations appeared. His work has been used in numerous magazines and books such as Look & Learn, London Life and others.

After the war he specialized in illustrating historical and ceremonial events. He was equally adept at depicting the life of ordinary people, especially crowds in the streets of London. His drawings were immensely popular, appearing in all the principal magazines and quality newspapers in Europe and America.

It would also be fair to say, that his work depicted war as a heroic endeavor, just as his other work tended to idealize [or sentimentalize] the classical and contemporary worlds.

With the outbreak of World War I he became a war artist and spent nearly five years at the front drawing hundreds of sketches, which he would later translate into photo-realistic, large sized pictures for the leading periodicals. His work was admired by military experts and critics alike for his technical accomplishment and scrupulous accuracy.

Matania was an expert at depicting historical scenes from all periods of history, as well as specific, current news events, with startling realism and precision for the time. His illustrations for The Sphere depicting the sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912 have been cited as an early exemplar. This image, "Women and Children First" transfixed the public when it appeared in 1912.

Fortunino illustrated his first book at the age of fourteen, and from about that age, his pictures were published every week in Illustrazione Italiana [1895-1902]. Moving to London, he worked for The Graphic [1901-1904]. After returning to Italy for military service he came back to London at the age of twenty-four and joined the staff of The Sphere, and spent the rest of his life in England.

Matania was a child prodigy, with a photographic memory and the ability to reproduce startlingly real scenes.

Born in Naples in 1881, Matania's early training in art came from his father, who was also an artist. His father, Eduardo's pictures were often anecdotal depictions of contemporary scenes, and clearly influenced much of his son's later work.

He was invited to accompany King George V and Queen Mary to India when they were installed as King-Emperor and Queen-Empress at the Delhi Durbar of 1911. Matania's resourcefulness on such occasions was also in a league unto itself. Such was the multitude of troops and onlookers at the event that there was little space allocated to the press. The majority of them were obliged to observe the proceedings through binoculars as the distant dignitaries shimmered and eddied into the searing heat. Matania, who had mapped out his preparatory work at the dress rehearsal, nevertheless wanted to get as close to the action as possible and managed to secure a position at the foot of the steps leading up to the Royal thrones. To ensure he remained as unobtrusive as possible, he had secured himself an Army uniform, remained rigidly at attention as he committed the whole scene in all its pomp and splendour to his photographic memory. Peter Richardson

Here is another in an occasional sequence depicting 'book discoveries', though given that Matania illustrated works by Edgar Rice Boroughs, I'd be very surprised if his work has not previously been 'discovered' by many of my fellow boardies long before!

Drawing from History: The Forgotten Art of Fortunino Matania. Fortunino Matania 1881-1963

My message for the New Year [for what's its worth]. There are no Captain Americas here to rely on. Man or woman, each of us must behave as heroes should. Follow your conscience, make a difference, however you can. And if you want, share it here.

Thanks Mike! I meant to post these in July, but stuff happened! Have a great New Year!

Now Life's uncertainty has carried me away from them once again. I wonder when my 'adopted' family and I will meet again?