“This selected spring sale was scheduled before the Venice Biennale and the New York auctions and presents itself as a precious opportunity to obtain masterpieces of Italian art from prestigious Italian and foreign collections - comment Beatrice Botta and Marta Giani, managers of the Auction – Some works by Alberto Burri stand out for their freshness and compositional fullness: the rhomboid-shaped “Combustione Plastica” from 1967 is a study for the window of the Convent of Sion in Switzerland, carried out by the Venetian architect Mirco Ravanne in those same years. Combustion interprets the spirituality and drama of the Christian message with marked power, while maintaining its own autonomy of language. Also the "Combustione" on cellotex from 1968 is a composition of great compositional harmony; acquired directly from the artist, it has always been kept in the same collection”.
Coming from a private collection and never appearing on the market - the experts continue - a harmonious five cuts by Lucio Fontana, executed in 1966, expresses in the elegant and unusual variant of very light gray the refinement typical of the artist's more mature works. The Milan auction offers two splendid examples of "Homage to the square" by Josef Albers, an artist particularly in demand today on the market. Lastly, we cannot fail to mention an iconic stitched canvas by Piero Manzoni: this “Achrome” measuring 45×60 cm, executed in 1960, has a complete bibliography”.
The spring auction of 4 and 5 May presents itself as a selected collection of about one hundred lots. Some important works by Alighiero Boetti stand out, including two large tapestries from 1988 (each estimate € 250.000-350.000), one illustrated on the cover of the catalogue, from an international collection, which also includes a hexagonal work from 1969 by Enrico Castellani (est: €
400.000-600.000) and a polystyrene by Piero Manzoni, made between 1962 and 1963 (est: € 250.000-350.000).
Of Manzoni, we also note "Achrome": a stitched canvas, exhibited at the Madre in Naples in 2007; executed in 1960-61 represents the total zeroing of the painting object where art offers itself naked for what it is, a concept, a metaphysical idea, without any allusive or representative ambitions (est. € 400.000 – 600.000) and a further “Achrome” from 1962, packaged in wrapping paper, estimated €120.000 – €180.000.
In addition to the hexagonal specimen mentioned above, this catalog can be said to offer Castellani of all ages and colours: a 1977 “Superficie Bianca” (est: 280.000 – 350.000); a red Castellani from the 90s (est: €280.000-350.000) and finally a “Superficie Blu” from 2003 (est: €220.000-280.000).
A magnificent rhomboid-shaped “Combustione Plastica” from 1967 (estimate € 500.000-700.000) by Alberto Burri represents a rare example of the artist's compositional maturity. It is a work related to the great plastic combustion in the Capuchin church of
Sion performed in collaboration with the architect Mirco Ravanne; here as never before the burns and lacerations on the surface of the plastic allude to a suffering, and to a rebirth, which transcends worldliness.
Lucio Fontana is present with some works of great quality, such as, as already mentioned, a harmonious very light gray canvas with five cuts, purchased directly from the artist and always kept in private collections, estimated at €700.000-900.000; as well as a cut on fluorescent pink canvas of great impact dedicated by Fontana to the daughter of gallery owner Guido Le Noci, Marina, which has a valuation of €330.000-430.000. By the Milanese artist we also point out an orange and black Teatrino that participated in Fontana's first solo exhibition after his death at Palazzo Reale in 1972 (est: € 300.000-400.000), and a splendid Crucifix in glazed and reflected ceramic exhibited at the XXIV Venice Biennale of 1948, with a valuation of €80.000-120.000.
There are two 'Homage to the Square' by Josef Albers present in the auction, in the most significant and sought-after colours: one red (1969) and the other yellow (1961), both formerly from the Beyeler gallery in Basel, estimated at € 200.000-300.000, in which the German artist, through the repetition of the square module, explores the universe of perception, thus anticipating some research of Op Art.
Tancredi's artistic work was promoted and supported by Peggy Guggenheim. In the Milanese auction, a him oil on canvas from 1957 will be offered (est: € 120.000-180.000), created by the Venetian artist in the years in which he was still a guest of the famous collector. Theirs was a mutual respect relationship.
This is how Peggy expressed herself about the artist: “I was the first to give Pollock a contract and to sell his paintings with great difficulty at the beginning in my gallery 'Art of this century' in New York. After many years in Venice no longer as a gallery owner but dedicated exclusively to completing my museum, I made for the young Tancredi one of the rare exceptions to the rule that I imposed on myself". Tancredi, untitled, oil on canvas, 135×75 cm, 1957
Piero Dorazio's “Evergreen” (est: €120.000-180.000) is part of the series of famous monochromes presented in 1960 at the Venice Biennale, particularly appreciated by the great art historian Lionello Venturi. Piero Dorazio, Evergreen, signed, 1960, oil on canvas, 81×65 cm
The bronze sculptures by Fausto Melotti presented in this sale are an ironic “Diavoleria” from 1980 (est: €100.000-150.000) and “Coro” from 1976 (est: €50.000/70.000), both from Italian collections. Worthy of particular attention is "Diavoleria": a sculpture made of brass, a heavy metal, shaped here with astonishing skill and elegance. Melotti thinks of reality as a starting point, to arrive at associations of images with a deeper meaning. The result is the masterpiece that we see alongside, capable of combining an ironic-surreal vein with an almost minimalist essentiality.
London has just inaugurated an exhibition dedicated to Vincenzo Agnetti which will be transferred to New York in autumn 2017, in Milan two significant and well-dated works: the Book forgotten by heart - book emptied and punched in the center - from 1970 and Permutabile from 1967 , both estimated at €40.000-60.000.
We point out a museum work by Giulio Paolini from 2007 entitled "Zeusi e Parrasio" (est:€ 220.000/ 280.000): dedicated to the legend of the two artists of antiquity, Paolini arranges four elements aligned on the same axis with a combination of canvases and casts in plaster in display cases, giving life to a close comparison between the elements, to represent the challenge that the artist takes on with the work and with himself every day, as suggested by the curator of the artist's archive Maddalena Disch in the note to catalog.
We conclude with another prized piece, a tiny Still Life by Giorgio Morandi dated 1962 (est: €180.000-250.000). The pictorial quality is excellent, the flat backgrounds and soft colors, almost devoid of saturation, accentuate a sense of profound restlessness and melancholy, giving the work an intimate poetic note.
