Allusions, Bay of Naples, 1975 Color offset lithograph and photo lithograph on wove paper 27 x 19 in. (68.6 x 48.3 cm.) Signed and numbered 56/80 in ink on the front, bears publishers' blind stamp Published by Edizioni Lucio Amelio, Galleria Lucio Amelio, Naples, with blind stamp
Never has the phrase “Nicht bei Bastian (Not with Bastian)” sounded more poignant than in the description of this print by Cy Twombly. It is a portrait of the artist, in a thick double-breasted overcoat and a slightly tight hat, serving as contrapposto as he leans on the heel of a copy of an ancient statue of Castor and Pollux. As he looks out over the Bay of Naples from the Villa Comunale, the late afternoon sun kisses the cheeks of our three heroes. And it casts the shadow of a figure on the statue’s base, probably the photographer, probably Lucio Amelio, the avant-garde Neapolitan art dealer in whose gallery Twombly mounted consecutive exhibitions in the winter of 1974–75. This print served as the exhibition poster for the second show, “Allusions (Bay of Naples),” of works on paper referencing Orpheus, Dionysus, and Narcissus. The artist signed and numbered 80 posters.
