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Lot Essay
The Comitato per il Catalogo di Giorgio Morandi has confirmed the authenticity of this work.
Natura morta, is a beautiful example of Giorgio Morandi’s mastery of the still-life, and of the virtuosity with which the artist combined the simplest forms, and a nearly monochrome palette into a perfectly balanced composition.
The present lot was painted in 1949, one of the happiest moments in Morandi’s career, as he had just been awarded the 1948 Grand Prix for Painting at the Venice Biennale. In this successful, post-war era, Morandi’s production increased dramatically: from 1948 until his death in 1964, he painted more than 772 works. His style became more mature, and more serial: he moved stepwise from one modestly scaled, easel-sized canvas to the next, often using the same objects which had long been in his possession, shifting them slightly, or altering the composition more dramatically with the simple addition of a new bottle, vase or canister. Employing these limited means he created endlessly subtle and unfolding variations. James Thrall Soby recalled first seeing the artist's paintings: "One sensed the intense meditative and philosophical process through which these objects were arranged...One knew that the slightest shifts in scale, light, color, balance, and counter-balance were of the utmost importance to him" (quoted in Giorgio Morandi 1890-1964, exh. cat., New York, 2008, p. 230).
In the present lot, the three objects depicted seem to be floating in an almost empty background. Their long, faint shadows reveal the growing intensity of the thought and the uneasiness of the spirit, for Morandi’s still-life were not merely abrupt representations of objects from life, but the outcome of a deep, slow elaboration.
Natura Morta was acquired by the late owner in the 1990s upon Gian Ferrari’s advice and has since remained in the same family.
Property from a Distinguished Italian Collection:
There is a considerable difference between a group of paintings put together as a form of investment and an art collection in its most authentic meaning. The next six lots belong to the latter: a sophisticated collection of works of art, 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 in 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, (and in a section of this week’s Impressionist and Modern Art South Kensington on 5 February), soon became one of them.
Although not every work in the collection was sourced directly 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 this season, one easily perceives a sense of cohesion, knowledge and consistency behind each choice - the only non-Italian name included in the group being Raoul Dufy, here represented at lot 373 later in this sale, a beautiful example of one of his all-time preferred subjects, Le Havre. Almost none of the lots have ever been seen before 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 they would find in her a supporter, willing to push her collectors to grant them the loan of their works of art.
Some of these museums (like 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 as enlightened patrons of Italian Modern Art.
Natura morta, is a beautiful example of Giorgio Morandi’s mastery of the still-life, and of the virtuosity with which the artist combined the simplest forms, and a nearly monochrome palette into a perfectly balanced composition.
The present lot was painted in 1949, one of the happiest moments in Morandi’s career, as he had just been awarded the 1948 Grand Prix for Painting at the Venice Biennale. In this successful, post-war era, Morandi’s production increased dramatically: from 1948 until his death in 1964, he painted more than 772 works. His style became more mature, and more serial: he moved stepwise from one modestly scaled, easel-sized canvas to the next, often using the same objects which had long been in his possession, shifting them slightly, or altering the composition more dramatically with the simple addition of a new bottle, vase or canister. Employing these limited means he created endlessly subtle and unfolding variations. James Thrall Soby recalled first seeing the artist's paintings: "One sensed the intense meditative and philosophical process through which these objects were arranged...One knew that the slightest shifts in scale, light, color, balance, and counter-balance were of the utmost importance to him" (quoted in Giorgio Morandi 1890-1964, exh. cat., New York, 2008, p. 230).
In the present lot, the three objects depicted seem to be floating in an almost empty background. Their long, faint shadows reveal the growing intensity of the thought and the uneasiness of the spirit, for Morandi’s still-life were not merely abrupt representations of objects from life, but the outcome of a deep, slow elaboration.
Natura Morta was acquired by the late owner in the 1990s upon Gian Ferrari’s advice and has since remained in the same family.
Property from a Distinguished Italian Collection:
There is a considerable difference between a group of paintings put together as a form of investment and an art collection in its most authentic meaning. The next six lots belong to the latter: a sophisticated collection of works of art, 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 in 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, (and in a section of this week’s Impressionist and Modern Art South Kensington on 5 February), soon became one of them.
Although not every work in the collection was sourced directly 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 this season, one easily perceives a sense of cohesion, knowledge and consistency behind each choice - the only non-Italian name included in the group being Raoul Dufy, here represented at lot 373 later in this sale, a beautiful example of one of his all-time preferred subjects, Le Havre. Almost none of the lots have ever been seen before 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 they would find in her a supporter, willing to push her collectors to grant them the loan of their works of art.
Some of these museums (like 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 as enlightened patrons of Italian Modern Art.