– Rita Moro –

Salvatore Fancello, Cinghiali e rettili 1938, 61.5 × 158.5 cm, tempera on canvas, MAN Collection

The MAN collection preserves a substantial body of works by Salvatore Fancello, consisting mainly of drawings, along with two sculptures and the significant painting Cinghiali e rettili.
This latter work, created in 1938, coincides with the artist’s stay in Albissola Marina, where he came into contact with the ceramist Tullio Mazzotti, a central figure in the artistic experimentation of those years.

The depicted image belongs to the theme of the bestiary, a recurring element in Fancello’s creative research. As early as the mid-1930s, in fact, Fancello had produced a first bestiary in terracotta (1934–1935), a tangible sign of his keen interest in the animal world—interpreted in a deeply personal and undoubtedly original way. This iconographic universe is never a mere naturalistic representation, but rather an interweaving of memories, suggestions, and imaginative elements that combine with extraordinary inventive freedom.

In his works, local fauna and exotic animals meet within a microcosm animated by poetic energy, capable of transforming the memory of his homeland into fantastic visions, at times suspended between dream and reality. In the 1938 canvas, the wild boars and the reptile emerge from a monochrome background, devoid of any naturalistic setting, as if floating in space. The line—swift and vibrant—articulates the composition, creating movement and a tight rhythm: the figures seem to drift, animated by an energy that makes them come alive.

In this work, Fancello’s distinctive style clearly emerges—marked by expressive freedom and boldness, yet balanced by a surprising harmony, where dynamism and equilibrium coexist without contradiction.