Zitt!Zitt!Arriva Lupo Alberto. Silver, 50 anni da lupo exhibition curated by Francesca Fontana and Lorenzo Respi, celebrating 50 years of the Lupo Alberto comic, which appeared on the pages of the “Corriere deiRagazzi” magazine for the first time in 1974.
Pencilled in the Modena hinterland by a youthful Guido Silvestri, aka Silver (b. 1952 in Carpi near Modena), Lupo Alberto and the whole McKenzie farm quickly won over the hearts of Italians, going on to become one of a handful of long-running comics, with no fewer than 440 issues produced to date and counting. As the curators explain, Lupo Alberto “doesn’t represent the perfect hero: he’s a good, likeable chap, a bit unlucky and often insecure. He’s used to taking it on the chin, literally and metaphorically, but his real strength is that he takes life with a pinch of salt, sometimes throwing all heed to the wind.Furthermore, the plots of his stories are full of references to current affairs, politics, social events and topics. In short, the farm reflects the same issues, concerns and psychological mechanisms as the real world.”
Such an important birthday just could not go unnoticed, especially in the city that was the wolf's birthplace; through this exhibition, Modena has the opportunity to thank Silver for creating not only an iconic character, but a true cultural phenomenon. The exhibition, produced in collaboration with McK and Lucca Comics & Games, does not claim to cover everything: Lupo Alberto has spawned so many products, it would be impossible. So what it aims to examine is how the comic has evolved from the earliest strips, by looking at some of the stories most loved by the public or most representative of the years when they were made, and taking a closer look at specific themes and subjects.It also sets out to take stock of the various shapes that Alberto has taken on: different types of merchandising, books, picture cards, cartoons and video games. Finally, it illustrates how Lupo Alberto boldly keeps renewing himself thanks to the creativity of the young authors of Tutto un altro Lupo.
