Benito Jaocvitti art 1968

It has been a bit of journey getting my first Jacovitti page. I remember seeing his art for the first time probably 20 years ago in Carsten's catalogs. I didn't know the artist as he has mostly been published only in Italy. I continued seeing his art around and really liking it. It reminded me of the art I might have seen in MAD Magazine. As I have now visited Italy for comic conventions a few times, I had seen a few pieces in person and have watched them at auction for a number of years. This year at Lucca it was my goal to come home with a Jacovitti. I am super happy with this one. I wanted one that was not colored (this is colored on the back, an additional image will be posted soon). I wanted one from the late 50's to the early 70's and so this was right in that peak period. I also wanted a stand alone page if possible. This one has so much going on with it and lots of self contained gags...it was perfect. I kept the scan pretty big so you can see it. Jacovitti does not draw a line like other artists, he doodles his lines so on detailed exam each of the thicker lines you see are multiple lines or squiggles creating the impression of a line. It is quite remarkable and something I did not appreciate until Carsten pointed that out to me this year at dinner at Lucca.

In North America, we don't know the artist at all and that is a shame. Just the mention of his name to any Italian collector and you will get a smile. Two different collectors made the same comment to me independent of each other...If Jacovitti had done his work in North America he would have been the most famous comic artist of all time... up there with Sparky.