Italian artist Fausto Melotti (1901-1986) worked in plaster, ceramics and metal, and also wrote poetry. His work has been linked to Giacometti, Fontana, de Chirico and Calder. This volume collects drawings and poems by the artist, alongside a selection of rare black-and-white portraits and documentary photographs by Ugo Mulas.
Originally educated as an electrical engineer, Fausto Melotti enrolled in art school in 1928, befriending Lucio Fontana, who became a lifelong friend. In the 1930s, Melotti created fanciful and dreamlike narratives embedded in small ceramic squares, continuing to work with ceramics and terra-cotta throughout the Second World War. In the 1940s he began collaborating with Domus magazine and published his first collection of poems. The day after his death, in 1986, the 42nd Venice Biennale opened with an exhibition of his work, posthumously awarding him the Golden Lion award.