The exhibition dedicated to the comics by Milton Caniff, Hugo Pratt’s master, runs until January 24th, 2021, at the PAFF! museum in Pordenone
The exhibition “Masters of black and white: Milton Caniff” celebrates the second anniversary of PAFF! and intends to tell little-known pages of history through the drawings of one of the greatest comics authors in the world.
With this exhibition, PAFF! Palazzo Arti Fumetto Friuli confirms its multidisciplinary vocation and uses comics as a tool to connect different cultural fields and speak to everyone with the immediacy and power of the image.
In addition to being an opportunity to get to know the work of a great illustrator, this exhibition allows us to better understand the period between the two wars. Caniff was strongly influenced by fashion and told the story of his characters through heavily typified clothes representative of the time. Moreover, Caniff’s comics contained recurrent references to current events in various cultural fields, from cinema to fashion to music.
Discover the fifth edition of Festival del Disegno di Fabriano
Fashion and cinema in 20 years of illustrations by Milton Caniff
His 61 illustrations, some of which are estimated at 100,000 euros, offer the opportunity to get closer to the times in which Caniff lived. The entire production of this great comics author is a representation of the world that surrounded him. For the clothes and hairstyles of female protagonists, Caniff drew inspiration from the pages of Vogue. The scenes of his comics often resorted to the use of low-angle shots, citing the style of revolutionary film directors of the time, such as Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock.
The exhibition, complying with anti-Covid regulations, is set up in the historic Villa Galvani and can be visited online with a virtual tour on PAFF! website, thanks to several cameras that allow a high definition 360°-visit of the exhibition spaces.
The protagonist of the itinerary is a collection from the Galerie du 9ème Art in Paris, displayed for the first time in Italy, with strips from “Terry and the Pirates”, “Male Call”, “Dickie Dare” and “Steve Canyon”, which represent an essential point of reference in the history of comics and have let generations of readers dream.
Discover the fifth edition of Festival del Disegno di Fabriano
The exhibition is curated by PAFF! Palazzo Arti Fumetto Friuli, with the support of Regione Autonoma Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Comune di Pordenone. It has been created in collaboration with Galerie du 9ème Art (Paris) and themed interventions by Museo della Moda e delle Arti Applicate (Gorizia).
