Hugo Pratt Day

Hugo Pratt has been an incomparable Maestro of the Italian comics.
Educated on the great adventure novels and on the comic strips of authors such as Milton Caniff, Will Eisner and Lyman Young, after having given birth to the character Asso di Picche (Spade Ace), he moved to Argentina where he worked with Hector G. Oesterheld to series like Sgt. Kirk, Ernie Pike, and Ticonderoga. Not long after, three works would have followed, both written and illustrated by Pratt (Anna della Giungla – Anne of the Jungle-, Wheeling and Capitan Cormorant), until he would find his richest and most personal inspiration with the creation of Corto Maltese's character, within the legendary Ballata del mare salato (Ballad of the saltedsea). Other adventures of Corto have then followed the first, as well as new characters: Gli Scorpioni del Deserto (The Scorpions of the Desert), El Gaucho and those created for the book-series “Un uomo un’avventura”(“A man an adventure”) edited by Editoriale Cepim (today Sergio Bonelli Editore).
Pratt's stylistic code lies mainly in his line, more and more essential through the years, in search of an extreme combination. He used to say: «I'd like to reach the skill of saying everything with a single line». His written style too, echoes this tension toward essentiality, towards a simplicity that does not leave room for frills or rhetoric that pictures curt and rather cynical characters. A glance to that reality, Pratt was proudly aware of, as well as his improving fame and the new level to which he was leading, the medium comics (while Eisner was creating the term graphic novel, Pratt preferred to talk about drawn literature).

This is the “public” Pratt and that of his works and his interviews.
But what about the “private” Pratt?

The man Hugo Pratt, with his dreams and his disillusions, his values and his faults is the protagonist of this day attributed to him through the evidence of who met him personally and worked with him, particularly his closest co-workers, Guido Fuga and Lele Vianello (the latter author of a lithograph, printed in 99 copies, numbered and signed, that will be given free as a gift to all the participants). A day to experience new aspects of a great artist, in his human and daily dimension.

On the same day, presentation and preview of the booklet Iconical Roots of Corto Maltese. Ideological Ancestors for Images and Stories of the “Handsome Sailor”, by Gianni Brunoro (Cartoon Club Editore): an essay, with many images and documents, about the iconical origins of Corto Maltese. All those who will attend the meeting will receive, as a gift, copies of the new edition of Corto Maltese, currently in kiosks and bookshops, thanks to the precious collaboration of “Il Corriere della Sera”, “La Gazzetta dello Sport” and Rizzoli-Lizard.

Participants: Stefano Babini, Gianni Brunoro, Stelio Fenzo, Guido Fuga, Salvatore Oliva, Florian Rubis, Lele Vianello.