Page 8 - The Decameon On 100 Etchings by Petru Russu - A Homage to Giovani Boccaccio

The Decameron

The Decameron: Spanning themes from playful eroticism to biting social critique,
Embark on a Visionary Journey through the stories evoke medieval life in vivid detail. Boccaccio’s narrative
100 Stories, where Archetypes and style, witty, often irreverent, strips away pretenses to expose
Symbolic-Oneiric Awareness Reimagine societal hypocrisy, especially within dominant institutions like the
Florence into Fantasy. Experience a Church. In tales like that of Patient Griselda, the author delivers
Dance of Vitality, Artistic Dialogues, layered allegory, challenging notions of virtue, submission, and
Metamorphic Dimensions, and cruelty with startling clarity.
Surrealist Interpretations, uncovering
Archetypal Truths. Between 1983 and 1985, Petru Russu crafted a visual reawakening
of this literary titan. His series of one hundred etched illustrations
Set against the grim backdrop of the 1348 plague-ravaged infuses the text with raw emotional texture and artistic force.
Florence, The Decameron unfolds in a countryside villa Drawing on the bold vocabulary of Middle European expressionism,
where ten young Florentines, seven women and three men, Russu reinterprets Boccaccio’s tales as visceral studies of the
seek refuge from the pandemic. For ten days, they sustain human figure. Through fragmented forms and a charged aesthetic,
themselves by storytelling: each member delivers one tale his work amplifies the psychological intensity of each narrative.
per day, creating a compendium of one hundred stories
that blend humor, tragedy, romance, and moral insight. This unique edition, two volumes pairing Petru Russu’s full-size
Boccaccio’s collection remains one of the most profound engravings with both complete translations and story summaries,
literary monuments of the Italian Renaissance, celebrated elevates The Decameron into a dialogue between word and image.
for both its stylistic daring and timeless observations on the The illustrations are not mere historical references; though they
human experience. nod to the fashions and manners of 14th-century Italy, their wild
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The Decameron