47 AUTORITRATTO DI PIETRA - EN
47. Autoritratto di pietra, 1973, oil on cardboard, 38 x 30 cm
The self-portrait was painted in August 1973. In the spring his beloved wife had passed away
Guseppina, who however was always called Alfreda, perhaps because they had always been together since they were kids. A life companion who contributed significantly to her husband’s career and success by supporting the family in times of hardship and whenever it was necessary.
Catarsini had made some drawings and paintings in which he portrayed himself with a sorrowful expression, as in this Self-portrait, in which his face is petrified by pain and his stunned sadness seems carved in stone.
He portrays himself in three-quarters to the right with his gaze lowered and sad like the fold of his pursed lips.
Insights
This oil painting seems to cover with color in various shades of ochre the graphic sign with which he usually structures his image in drawings. The same progression of the brush strokes on the chin, on the cheeks and above the eyebrow arch recalls that of the pencil or pen and the highlights in white lead recall the white of the paper that we see in many of his graphic works.
In October of the same year he sets up an anthological exhibition in the Convent of San Domenico in Cagliari.
In 1976 he is interviewed by Emilio Paoli for La Nazione; in 1978, he is called to preside over the jury of the
Carnival of Viareggio, exhibits at the National Prize for Figurative Painting Santa Margherita Ligure and wins the First Prize for Painting Triade in Milan.