oil on canvas, 49×44 cm
signed and dated lower left U. Conti 1914
II beautiful and already mature Self-Portrait with Scarf was painted by Conti in the first break of the peritonitis that had struck him in Viareggio in 1914, when, having overcome the danger of death, he was able to sit on his bed and paint. The Art Nouveau-style scarf, with its richly colored cloison weave, contrasts with the pallor of the convalescent’s face, barely touched by flesh-colored shadows, and with the contours that the light is fading and melting in the air. The cloison is a motif that ritrovia mo in many drawings of 191415, where it no longer has merely decorative value, but structural, defining the framework of the form. This motif will also help him happily articulate color counterpoints.
