Renato Guttuso: life and works

Renato Guttuso (26 December 1911 – 18 January 1987) was an Italian painter and politician. His best-known works include Flight from Etna (1938–39), Crucifixion (1941) and La Vucciria (1974). Guttuso also meant for the theatre (including sets and costumes for Histoire du Soldat, Rome, 1940) and did illustrations for books. Those for Elizabeth David’s Italian Food (1954), introduced him to many in the English-speaking world. A fierce anti-Fascist, “he developed out of Expressionism and the severe light of his original land to paint landscapes and social commentary.”