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Lot Essay
The following lots belong to a sophisticated collection of artworks, assembled by a passionate, discerning art lover and his wife. The late owner started collecting in the 1960s and continued through the 1990s. Some key elements were in his favour: he was gifted with strong entrepreneurial skills, elegant taste and intellectual curiosity, but he also had an excellent guide in Claudia Gian Ferrari.
Claudia Gian Ferrari (Milan, 1945-2010) was an important protagonist of the Italian art scene. In the gallery she ran in Milan for almost thirty years, after the death of her father Ettore in 1982, she contributed to the reappraisal of the Italian art between the wars through her exhibitions and as an art historian, compiling catalogues on Sironi, Casorati and Martini among others. Also known as a collector herself, Claudia acquired significant works from the 20th Century, including paintings by the major names of contemporary Italian Art, such as Morandi, Fontana, De Chirico as well as pieces by emerging artists. In 1996 she founded the ‘Studio di consulenza per il Novecento Italiano’, a consultancy studio conceived as an exhibition space as well as a centre for documentation.
Every important art collector in Italy would at some point gravitate towards one of her venues, (her two galleries and the Studio), as all three played a key role in nourishing a circle of sophisticated art lovers who, following her advice in sourcing and lending their works of art, forged some of the most respected collections of ‘Moderno Italiano’. The owner of the paintings displayed in the next pages soon became one of them.
Although not every single work in the collection was sourced through the Gian Ferrari Gallery, most of them were chosen with Claudia’s advice. The result is a group of important, historical works by some of the most renowned names of the Italian art scene between the wars: De Chirico, Morandi, Casorati and Sironi among others. When looking at the selection of works we have from this collection (and in a section of this week’s Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale catalogue), one easily perceives a sense of cohesion, knowledge and consistency behind each choice. Almost none of the lots has ever been at auction, and those that have,
have not appeared on the market for over twenty years. Many of the paintings boast extensive exhibition histories, having been lent by the owner to major Italian and international museums, who would always turn to Claudia Gian Ferrari knowing to find in her a supporter, willing to push her collectors to grant them the loan of their works of art.
Some of these museums (Museo del Novecento and Villa Necchi Campiglio in Milan, or MAXXI and MACRO in Rome) are now proud to display many works of art once belonging to the Gian Ferrari family, who very generously donated them, in line with their nature of enlighten patrons of the Italian Modern Art.
Painted in 1939, La Vocazione follows the artist’s triumph in the Venice Biennale of 1938, where he won first prize. It is markedly different in composition and tone from his earlier post-war works. The figure depicted is fragile, in contrast to his earlier sculptural subjects, and is presented in an intimate, domestic space. By the late 1930’s, the artist’s palette has softened and there is none of the rigid composition that marks his renowned portraits of the 1920s. Whilst the female nude remains his strongest subject, this work
is a clear departure from the Renaissance-inspired formalism of post-war European painting. Equally, Nature morta con testa di gesso e libri (lot 83) clearly shows the influence of Surrealism on the artist’s later work. A sculptural form (the plaster head) is presented in an ambiguous interior, whilst the composition stretches out to the horizon in a tense exploration of interior and exterior, the sculptural and the imagined.
Claudia Gian Ferrari (Milan, 1945-2010) was an important protagonist of the Italian art scene. In the gallery she ran in Milan for almost thirty years, after the death of her father Ettore in 1982, she contributed to the reappraisal of the Italian art between the wars through her exhibitions and as an art historian, compiling catalogues on Sironi, Casorati and Martini among others. Also known as a collector herself, Claudia acquired significant works from the 20th Century, including paintings by the major names of contemporary Italian Art, such as Morandi, Fontana, De Chirico as well as pieces by emerging artists. In 1996 she founded the ‘Studio di consulenza per il Novecento Italiano’, a consultancy studio conceived as an exhibition space as well as a centre for documentation.
Every important art collector in Italy would at some point gravitate towards one of her venues, (her two galleries and the Studio), as all three played a key role in nourishing a circle of sophisticated art lovers who, following her advice in sourcing and lending their works of art, forged some of the most respected collections of ‘Moderno Italiano’. The owner of the paintings displayed in the next pages soon became one of them.
Although not every single work in the collection was sourced through the Gian Ferrari Gallery, most of them were chosen with Claudia’s advice. The result is a group of important, historical works by some of the most renowned names of the Italian art scene between the wars: De Chirico, Morandi, Casorati and Sironi among others. When looking at the selection of works we have from this collection (and in a section of this week’s Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale catalogue), one easily perceives a sense of cohesion, knowledge and consistency behind each choice. Almost none of the lots has ever been at auction, and those that have,
have not appeared on the market for over twenty years. Many of the paintings boast extensive exhibition histories, having been lent by the owner to major Italian and international museums, who would always turn to Claudia Gian Ferrari knowing to find in her a supporter, willing to push her collectors to grant them the loan of their works of art.
Some of these museums (Museo del Novecento and Villa Necchi Campiglio in Milan, or MAXXI and MACRO in Rome) are now proud to display many works of art once belonging to the Gian Ferrari family, who very generously donated them, in line with their nature of enlighten patrons of the Italian Modern Art.
Painted in 1939, La Vocazione follows the artist’s triumph in the Venice Biennale of 1938, where he won first prize. It is markedly different in composition and tone from his earlier post-war works. The figure depicted is fragile, in contrast to his earlier sculptural subjects, and is presented in an intimate, domestic space. By the late 1930’s, the artist’s palette has softened and there is none of the rigid composition that marks his renowned portraits of the 1920s. Whilst the female nude remains his strongest subject, this work
is a clear departure from the Renaissance-inspired formalism of post-war European painting. Equally, Nature morta con testa di gesso e libri (lot 83) clearly shows the influence of Surrealism on the artist’s later work. A sculptural form (the plaster head) is presented in an ambiguous interior, whilst the composition stretches out to the horizon in a tense exploration of interior and exterior, the sculptural and the imagined.