The Sozzani Foundation presents the exhibition “Hyperillustrations” by François Berthoud in collaboration with Bulgari. Four decades of fashion told with the unmistakable trait of one of the most emblematic contemporary illustrators, in an anthology of more than one hundred works from the early 1980s to 2022.

Berthoud suggests stories, writes wordless scripts and some of his portraits have an intensity that leaps off the page, as if animated by a will of his own.

"Much more than 'fashion illustrations', Berthoud's drawings and prints are erotic assemblages. Physical experimentation and the aesthetic ready-made are the basis of his graphic work which can be defined as" Hyper-illustrations "because with his mediation François Berthoud takes fashion to its artistic and cultural extremes ”, writes Chris Dercon, Director of the Grand Palais in Paris in his essay.

Trained in Switzerland at the art school of La Chaux-de-Fonds and specialized at the graphic school of Lausanne, François Berthoud started working in comics at a very young age with ironic stories and exotic fantasies, with a small group of Italian illustrators close to the avant-garde. of the visual arts, such as Lorenzo Mattotti, Tanino Liberatori, Igort, Stefano Tamburini, which revolved around cult magazines such as Linus, Alter Alter and Frigidaire.

Influenced by the technique of Japanese woodcut, Berthoud often uses the formula of linocut, the “linocut” where with linoleum plates he can obtain almost relief prints as in the very fine engravings from cherry wood tables. With very dense oil-based typographic inks he obtains that “bold” stroke that often defines many of his famous silhouettes and that requires long processing times. "In the physical process there are no shortcuts, I need time" - says Berthoud - but I am always fascinated by the mystery of the final print that goes beyond the imagination and is never what you expect. "