Scena di caccia

This hunting scene is very distinctive: a rider on a black horse is being chased and has almost been reached by three more riders on white horses with dogs following behind.
The scene was painted between 1935 and 1936 by a very young Guttuso in the formative stage of his career. At this time, he was guided by various influences, including 20th century artists.
The emotional liveliness, the unfettered composition conveying a popular narrative, the lightness of stroke, and the simple design all seem to evoke the artist’s initial debt to the art of the Sicilian carts, as in the work of the Ducato brothers, and also to the penetrating ingenuity of Pippo Rizzo, the first established painter to whom Guttuso turned.