Fabrizio Clerici was born in Milan in 1913. His family moved to the Italian capital when he was seven years old, and it was there that he would study architecture, graduating from the Higher School of Architecture in 1937. As a veritable open museum, the city was a constant source of learning and inspiration, especially the Renaissance and baroque buildings. Rome also offered opportunities such as conferences held by Le Corbusier and an encounter with Alberto Savinio, who introduced him to surrealism. Clerici moved back to Milan at the end of the 1930s.
The following decade would prove intensely prolific. In 1943, Clerici held his first solo exhibition at the Cairola Art Gallery in Milan, where he showcased drawings, watercolours, lithographs and etchings. In 1947, he dipped his toes into the world of set design, working on a production of George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession. This experiment would mark the starting point of a long-lasting career in theatre, ballet and opera. In 1947 he met Lucio Fontana for the first time, collaborating with him on an architectural project. In 1948 he exhibited his work at his first ever Venice Biennale, where he met Salvador Dalí and sought contacts for his designing activity. The end of the decade also saw Clerici illustrate his first books, including Bestiario by Leoncillo Leonardi and The Late Mattia Pascal by Pirandello.
Clerici moved back to Rome at the end of the 1940s. His decision to settle in the capital coincided with an appetite for metaphysical research, such as the scientific studies of Athanasius Kircher, the anamorphic woodcuts of Erhard Schön and the optical perspective theories of Father Jean-François Niceron. He also benefited from countless opportunities both as an artist, exhibiting his work at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York and the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, and as a set designer. He travelled extensively in the 1950s, most notably to the Middle East. These journeys would inspire a new range of motifs and series, including the Templi dell’uovo cycle (tempera paintings depicting mythologised archaeological subjects) and mirages. Some of these were shown as early as the 1956 Venice Biennale. Archaeology would prove to be a source of enduring inspiration for the artist in the second half of the 1950s, with objects of everyday life decontextualised and presented as retrieved artefacts.
The 1970s were characterised by two major undertakings: a series inspired by his Egyptian travels entitled Theban Variations, and a series of paintings and drawings inspired by Arnold Böcklin’s celebrated painting Isle of the Dead.
Recognition for Clerici’s work crystallised in the 1980s and 1990s, mainly through retrospectives at the Civic Gallery of Modern Art at Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara (1983), the Palazzo Reale at Caserta (1987) and the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome.
Clerici died in Rome in 1993. Following his passing, the Fabrizio Clerici Archive has been set up and curated by his pupil Eros Renzetti in accordance with the late artist’s wishes.
