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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.
As a contemporary of Gino Severini and Giorgio de Chirico, Mario Sironi was heavily influenced by Futurism in his early career. However, like Felice Casorati (lots 81, 82 and 83) the artist returned to a neoclassical style of painting after his service in the First World War, and was a key founder of the ‘Novecente Italiano’ movement. During this time, the artist’s version of Futurism yielded to
a markedly different style, in which his works are dominated by large, immobile forms. Often mannequins were used in his compositions, as they were in the metaphysical works of Giorgio de Chirico. Later in the 1920s, the artist began to paint compositions of peasants and family groups, in what has been described by art historian Fabio Benzi as ‘a primitivist form of Classicism’. Pescatori is an example of such a work, where the post-war formalism of the artist’s oeuvre began its metamorphosis into a more national, popular art to which the artist turned in the 1930’s.
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.
As a contemporary of Gino Severini and Giorgio de Chirico, Mario Sironi was heavily influenced by Futurism in his early career. However, like Felice Casorati (lots 81, 82 and 83) the artist returned to a neoclassical style of painting after his service in the First World War, and was a key founder of the ‘Novecente Italiano’ movement. During this time, the artist’s version of Futurism yielded to
a markedly different style, in which his works are dominated by large, immobile forms. Often mannequins were used in his compositions, as they were in the metaphysical works of Giorgio de Chirico. Later in the 1920s, the artist began to paint compositions of peasants and family groups, in what has been described by art historian Fabio Benzi as ‘a primitivist form of Classicism’. Pescatori is an example of such a work, where the post-war formalism of the artist’s oeuvre began its metamorphosis into a more national, popular art to which the artist turned in the 1930’s.