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Lot Essay
Painted in 1929, La lettera shows what appears to be an intimate, cluttered corner of Fausto Pirandello's own world. The artist has shown various items of correspondence - what seems to comprise of the eponymous letter, a parcel, a newspaper scattered on a table. The scene has been painted from a steep angle, looking down. This leads to a sense of confinement, while also introducing an intense subjectivity, as the corner of the room is shown from what we assume is the artist's own perspective. The picture is filled with a concentrated amount of detail. And the density of the material of the artist's own life is reflected in the density of the oils with which it has been rendered. In La lettera, Pirandello has given form to an aspect, perhaps even a moment, of his own life. The undulating, carefully and expressionistically worked surface hints at both the emotions of the artist and at his lending them painterly flesh.
Pirandello was associated with many of the artists of his time, not least during his years in Paris. He was on good terms with artists in the 'loose group' of Pittura Metafisica and also later with the Scuola Romana. However, his paintings were always uncompromisingly his own, striking their own unique, uniquely expressive path. The Metafisica atmosphere that sometimes is apparent in his paintings has a darker, more personal quality than in the works of his contemporaries, and this is emphasised by the sheer materiality of the oils. It is perhaps because of these qualities, as evidenced in pictures such as La lettera, that Pirandello had his first one-man exhibition in the same year that it was painted. This was held in Paris, and was the first of many exhibitions which would show his works to an ever-increasing and international audience. In this context, it is a testimony to the quality - and perhaps even to the personal content - of La lettera that it was exhibited at the XXVIII Venice Biennale, during the artist's own lifetime.
Pirandello was associated with many of the artists of his time, not least during his years in Paris. He was on good terms with artists in the 'loose group' of Pittura Metafisica and also later with the Scuola Romana. However, his paintings were always uncompromisingly his own, striking their own unique, uniquely expressive path. The Metafisica atmosphere that sometimes is apparent in his paintings has a darker, more personal quality than in the works of his contemporaries, and this is emphasised by the sheer materiality of the oils. It is perhaps because of these qualities, as evidenced in pictures such as La lettera, that Pirandello had his first one-man exhibition in the same year that it was painted. This was held in Paris, and was the first of many exhibitions which would show his works to an ever-increasing and international audience. In this context, it is a testimony to the quality - and perhaps even to the personal content - of La lettera that it was exhibited at the XXVIII Venice Biennale, during the artist's own lifetime.