If the Italian artist Francesco Clemente wished to draw on his national forebears for inspiration, the choices would be many—from Leonardo to Caravaggio, Modigliani to Morandi. Instead, the Naples-born painter, sculptor, and book publisher taps into traditional Indian art. In 1973, after studying at the Sapienza University of Rome, where he rubbed shoulders with the likes of Luigi Ontani and Cy Twombly, Clemente visited India for the first time. He was in his early 20s and would remain in India for nearly a decade, acquainting himself with the country’s cultural traditions and creating art in a studio in Chennai. In the early 1980s, Clemente moved on to New York City, where his work reached a wider audience. He has since exhibited at the Venice Biennale, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Royal Academy of Arts, in London. A collection of Clemente’s oil paintings, watercolors, and frescoes is now on view at Lévy Gorvy Dayan. —Jack Sullivan