OLD AS STONE, HARD AS ROCK

In this translated work, an Italian artist grapples with the intractability of war as part of the human condition.

This wordless picture book for older readers opens with Sanna’s descriptions of his attempt to “bring to life, in painted form, the poems of Ungaretti, Apollinaire, Hemingway, Mandelstam, and others,” as well as an introduction by translator Alcalay, offering his interpretation of the images that follow. Strategically framed, pictorial narratives develop in five stages, labeled “Humanity,” “Fire,” “Sea,” “Sky,” and “Infinity,” each depicting progressively more technologically advanced forms of warfare. First, a stone rolls from a mountaintop onto a barren landscape; two figures emerge, and one clobbers the other with the stone, which then tumbles into a different setting where more fighting ensues. As more weapons and different tactics appear, readers witness an increasing scale and scope of conflict and violence through illustrations that at times feel universal and at others reference iconic, recognizable scenes from diverse times and places. Titanic hands and figures appear, manipulating tiny, silhouetted humans and horses, intimating tensions between creator and creation, and, as Sanna puts it, “the age-old, tormented contest to dominate all things that can be named.” Constellations in deep blue skies mirror battle scenes below. Painterly, atmospheric backgrounds add perspective and a stark elegance, accentuating the bleak solemnity. The montaged compositions occasionally evoke Peter Sís’ art and Shaun Tan’s The Arrival.

A haunting, poetic visual interpretation of one of humanity’s existential dilemmas.