Salvatore Fiume - Leda and the Swan

The work depicted here tells the story of Leda and the Swan. This myth comes from Greek mythology and tells of the queen of Sparta, daughter of Thestius and wife of King Tyndareus. The story fits into the Trojan cycle, as she is the mother of Clytemnestra and Helen, whose beauty will spark the Trojan War. Zeus, infatuated with Leda, cannot resist her, and when she finds herself on the shore of a lake, he approaches her in the form of a white swan and begins to caress her all over. From this relationship two sons are born, known as the Dioscuri, who are named Castor and Pollux. Other versions say that Leda also conceives children with Tyndareus, her husband, on the same day, and therefore Helen and Pollux are Zeus' children, and Castor and Clytemnestra are Zeus' children.  of Tyndareus. The image in question shows us Leda, embracing the anthropomorphic swan, with a body half animal and half human, and we can see the delicate fusion of their bodies.

The style of the work, in this case, is naturally influenced by the technique used to create it. We are dealing with a lithography, a type of graphic art. The word itself derives from the Greek and means "writing on stone." Indeed, the technique is based on the mutual repulsion of oily and aqueous materials. After initially preparing a very thick stone slab, the artist begins to create his drawing with a grease pencil. When the ink is applied to the stone, it adheres only to the drawing itself. Following previously marked lines on the stone, the sheet of paper is placed on the slab and the whole is pressed, thus transferring and imprinting the design onto the paper. Each color requires a separate plate. Thanks to the unique nature of the technique, the graphic before us almost resembles a pencil drawing, precisely because of the porosity of the stone, which, unlike other graphic techniques, results in a less incisive line. In this case, Fiume decides to create a monochrome work, only black and white: he perfectly manages, with a few simple lines, to capture the fusion and passion between the two bodies.

Salvatore Fiume was born in 1915 in Comiso. His approach to the art world was diverse; he worked not only as a painter, but also as a sculptor, architect, and set designer. From a young age, he dabbled in graphic arts, thanks in part to a scholarship that allowed him to attend the Royal Institute for Book Illustration in Urbino. After completing his studies, he moved to Milan, a fertile cultural environment where he had the opportunity to forge friendships with artists and writers. Several short moves followed, always within the Lombardy region. He became art director for Olivetti's cultural magazine, but then decided to devote himself entirely to painting, which led to his first official exhibition in 1949. A turning point in his career was his trip to Ethiopia in 1973, where he was exposed to a distant yet fascinating culture. The master's works can today be found in some of the world's most renowned museums, including the Vatican Museums, the Hermitage, the MoMA, and many others. He passed away in 1997 in Milan.

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