Troupe Muscolini 1915

Francesco Cangiullo made this ink drawing, Troupe Muscolini, on a sheet of paper. There’s a playful, almost naive quality to the drawing, as Cangiullo piles up abstract shapes into a kind of figure, or maybe even a totem. The ink is pretty thin, like he’s just letting the pen do its thing. It's fascinating how he builds the figure with loops and lines, one mark at a time. The texture of the paper comes through, giving it a raw, immediate feel. Down at the bottom, there’s this little blue squiggle – it feels like a spontaneous addition, like Cangiullo couldn’t resist adding a touch of whimsy. There's something about the geometric shapes that makes me think of Hilma af Klint. Both artists were exploring ways to represent unseen forces or ideas through abstract forms. Cangiullo embraces the beauty of simplicity and the power of suggestion. It’s a reminder that art doesn’t always have to be complicated to be meaningful.