In his vast and multifaceted artistic production—marked by refined and cultivated literary influences, unsettling fantastical and surreal visions, as well as a sensitive figurative language connected to the reality that surrounded him—Mario Lattes always maintained a deep interest in portraiture, though never in a conventionally banal sense. His portraits are drawn and painted with incisive attention to individual identity, ranging from more intimate interpretations (particularly in the case of family members) to strongly expressionistic and visionary renderings, as in the face of Franz Kafka, derived from a photograph yet transfigured into an enigmatic, lunar atmosphere.

Of particular significance are the numerous self-portraits in which the artist appears to delve deeply into his own troubled and complex existential psychological dimension. Exemplary in this regard is Self-Portrait with Hat, Marionettes and Bird (1990).

The exhibition presents a significant group of these works by Lattes, which enter into a fluid dialogue with a varied anthology of portraits and self-portraits by painters and sculptors (many of them his friends) from his generation or the one just preceding it, with whom he exhibited and interacted within the artistic milieu of Turin and Italy.

The selection includes works by Felice Casorati; members of the “Sei” group such as Jessie Boswell, Francesco Menzio, and Carlo Levi; Luigi Spazzapan, Italo Cremona, and Mario Calandri; and three notable women painters: Nella Marchesini, Daphne Maugham, and Carol Rama. Three sculptures are also on display: a precious female head in wax by Giacomo Manzù; a nearly abstract figure by Sandro Cherchi; and a Cubist-inspired portrait by Mario Giansone.

Two fine engravings are likewise included: sharply defined physiognomies engraved by the Czechoslovak friend Jiří Anderle and a concise face by Mario Surbone.
Among the paintings distinguished by a more delicate tonal quality, particular mention should be made of the small portrait of Menzio’s wife Ottavia; and a highly intense portrait of the model Lidia by Calandri, accompanied by a preparatory drawing rendered with equal sensitivity. Another portrait of a model—decidedly more playful and somewhat osé—is Vittoria on the Plaster Horse by Cremona.
Especially fascinating is the comparison between Lattes’s introspective self-portraits and some of these artists, including the ironic self-portrait in a tank top by Cremona; the one charged with vibrant graphic tension by Spazzapan; the intense and melancholic self-portrait by Daphne Maugham; the dreamlike Awakening with Mother by Levi, in which the painter depicts himself with only one eye open; and the one marked by bizarre expressiveness by Carol Rama.
The exhibition features around fifty works which, through a fluid interplay of juxtapositions, demonstrate how the theme of portraiture has always remained central to figurative painting.

The Fondazione Bottari Lattes was established in 2009 in Monforte d’Alba (Cuneo) at the initiative of Caterina Bottari Lattes. Its mission is to promote culture and art and to broaden awareness of the name of Mario Lattes (1923–2001) and his multifaceted work as a painter, writer, publisher, and promoter of cultural initiatives.
Mario Lattes was a lucid and nonconformist witness of his time, an internationally minded artist who played a key role in introducing major foreign painters and authors to Italy. He served as director of the publishing house that bore his name, founded by his grandfather in 1893, which for many years was a reference point for Italian education. Among its educational publications was the anthology La biblioteca illustrata, featuring drawings by Mario Lattes for middle school students.
The Fondazione Bottari Lattes is a non-profit organization. It carries out study and cultural research initiatives, either independently or in collaboration with other bodies and institutions, and organizes cultural projects and events. Its main activities include the International Literary Prize Lattes Grinzane, the biennial Mario Lattes Translation Prize, art and photography exhibitions, school projects such as Vivolibro, and conferences.
The headquarters of the Fondazione Bottari Lattes houses the Mario Lattes Library, the Archive of Mario Lattes’s papers and other documentary collections held by the Foundation, and the Mario and Caterina Lattes Art Gallery, which is part of the network of Piedmontese Cultural Institutes.