Francesco Clemente: A Portrait

A rare glimpse into the life and work of an enigmatic master.

Photographer and filmmaker Luca Babini affords us unprecedented access to the life and work of the extraordinary Italian painter Francesco Clemente. One of the painters who achieved remarkable fame in the eighties-and one of the few to sustain his reputation-Clemente rarely gives interviews and dislikes being photographed. But when his dear friend Babini asked if he would let himself be photographed informally, on a day-to-day basis, Clemente agreed in the name of friendship and collaboration.

Since then, Babini has compiled an intimate and beautiful chronicle of Clemente's life and work. Francesco Clemente: Art and Life shows the artist in his studio-in New York, Amalfi, Taos, and Madras. This photographic record of Clemente's working process is as extraordinary as it is enlightening.

Poet and arts writer Rene Ricard traces the evolution of the artist's studio through time, while simultaneously acting as a contemporary Giorgio Vasari in his more personal discussion of Clemente, his art, and his life. The first book of its kind, Babini's photo journal will be published in conjunction with the retrospective of Francesco Clemente's work at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City in the fall of 1999.