This is a superb travel diary offered by the Ruthenian artist, who followed in the footsteps of Antonello of Messina, the one who during the Renaissance brought oil painting to Italy and for whom his family well inspired for the illustrations.
In a few days, Sonia Privat’s new travel diary will be released. A gem, which took two years of work. It all started with a book. That of Jean Diwo, “At the time when the Mona Lisa spoke”. “I had barely finished it when I said to my husband Dan, we have to go to Sicily.” The reason? Go in search of the true story of Antonello of Messina, considered one of the great masters of the Renaissance. And, in doing so, try to unlock the secret of oil painting.
Five journeys
“Antonello of Messina brought oil painting back to Italy. We do not really know, however, if he met Van Eyck, considered the father of this painting, who existed well before him, but that he really put in light” breathes Sonia Privat who, with her husband, nevertheless made a journey from Sicily to Bruges, via Lyon, Lille, Amiens, where the Sicilian remained..
“It is said of Antonello that his sailor’s smile is the one that inspired the smile of the Mona Lisa”she slips, recounting all the adventures of this journey which required five trips, “and for which I started to learn Italian”.
“This travel diary is built around a dialogue between Antonello and me,” she smiles. A dialogue between artists in which his whole family took part while painting… in oil. “Since Van Eyck, this technique has not changed,” says Sonia Privat, in whose eyes we can read all the pleasure she had in creating this travel diary. “I’m not serious, but what I do, I do it seriously,” she smiles, explaining that she tried to paint “in the way of…”
And Sonia Privat, in her workshop on rue Sainte-Catherine, looked back several centuries when she continued to create her travel diary.
“This period of two years, I call it the Bella storia, because in the middle of all this, the family grew with the arrival of a grandson,” rejoices Sonai Privat who obviously found a place for this little one in his travel diary.
Nominated in Clermont-Ferrand
A notebook which will be published by “Magellan et Cie”, with which she will be present at the International Travel Journal Exhibition in Clermont-Ferrand, on November 15, 16 and 17. And with which she is nominated for the Michelin Corporate Foundation Grand Prize. She will also go there with an impressive canvas measuring 3 m by 2.5 m, on which she painted Antonello De Messina working… while slipping in beautiful anachronistic errors, with her way of being serious without being serious.
Sonia Privat is all the more enthusiastic about the idea of this next Clermont meeting as we are seeing a real enthusiasm around the Travel Diary. She will also be, following (November 30 and December 1), present at the first Carnet de voyage exhibition in Thonon-les-Bains.
In the meantime, you can also follow his journey via short videos published on his Facebook page which will make you want to take this travel diary in your hands.
Related News :