ST. LOUIS, MO.- The Saint Louis Art Museum presents the exhibition Focus on the Collection: Francesco Clemente’s High Fever, which brings together a series of nine dark and mysterious woodcuts that explore the beauty, pleasure and pain of love by contemporary Italian artist Francesco Clemente. Influenced by the mysticism of India, Clemente conveys both the sensual and spiritual aspects of love, including childbirth and motherhood. Clemente exploits the natural grain of his woodblocks to dramatic effect, allowing it to become part of the repertoire of expressive marks found in each of the compositions. The grain and the dark tones of the ink reference the Northern European history of the woodcut. Born in Naples in 1952, Clemente taught himself to paint after finishing high school. He moved to Rome in 1970