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Three Perspectives on Eros: Casotto | Guerra | Baldazzini

Thursday 10 September 2026, 04:00 PM • Milan

La Fortezza del Dolore

76

Roberto Baldazzini

La Fortezza del Dolore, 1998

Estimate

€ 400 - 800

Sold

€ 480

The price includes buyer's premium

Information

pencil and ink on thin cardboard
28,5 x 40,5 cm
Original illustration made by Baldazzini for "La Fortezza del Dolore", first published in Blue magazine in 1998. Signed.

Literature

Roberto Baldazzini's work represents one of the most significant examples of the development of erotic imagery in contemporary Italian comics. His clean, uniform, and unlined lines draw on the tradition of the French ligne claire, lending his panels exemplary readability and, at the same time, a powerful sense of abstraction. Eroticism, therefore, does not arise from chiaroscuro effects or a painterly rendering of the flesh, but rather from the precision of the drawing, the balance of proportions, and the calibrated organization of space. Line thus becomes the primary tool for constructing desire, transforming the body into an idealized image, suspended between naturalism and stylization. Baldazzini's eroticism is not based on the explicitness of the sexual act, but rather on the construction of a highly codified iconographic universe, fueled by references to fetish culture, American pin-ups, fashion, and photography. Latex, corsets, lingerie, gloves, heels, and bondage accessories do not assume a transgressive function in the strict sense, but become elements of a sophisticated visual lexicon through which desire is translated into graphic form. Baldazzini's clear line also takes on a conceptual value. Traditionally associated with the narrative clarity and readability of Franco-Belgian comics, it is used to represent complex and layered erotic imagery, generating an interesting contrast between the clarity of the line and the ambiguity of the content. The result is a continuous tension between visual order and iconographic transgression: the precision of the line disciplines desire rather than exacerbates it, transforming eroticism into an aesthetic construction based on the control of form.

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