Perseverance
Francesco Clemente
Italian, born 1952
1981
An oil-on-canvas painting in which Francesco Clemente shows a near-nude figure straining to hold a small classical temple, using loose, tactile brushwork to make a private, allegorical statement about perseverance.
The broad white field makes the twisted, fleshy body and its golden miniature temple read like a sudden apparition—rendered in smudged, energetic strokes and ringed by drifting brownish flecks that feel like falling debris or petals.
Made during the 1980s revival of expressive figuration, the painting melds myth, personal narrative, and art-historical reference to reopen painting to poetic, cross-cultural symbolism and bodily presence.
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
6' 6" x 7' 9" (198.1 x 236.2 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of UBS
Accession
95.2002
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
