Umberto Boccioni
Umberto Boccioni

L’Atleta

Details
Umberto Boccioni
L’Atleta
drypoint, 1907, on stiff cream wove paper, signed in pencil, a fine impression of this very rare, pure drypoint, printing with considerable burr and a rich, varied plate tone, Bellini's first state (of three), variant B, with wide margins, probably the full sheet, a short tear at the lower sheet edge at centre, a pale moisture stain in the lower left corner, otherwise in very good condition
Plate 150 x 233 mm., Sheet 410 x 500 mm.
Literature
Bellini (1972) 10; Bellini (2004) 11 I B
Sale Room Notice
Please note that the image and catalogue note in the printed catalogue have been swapped with lot 54.

Brought to you by

Alexandra Gill
Alexandra Gill

Lot Essay

In his diary Boccioni describes observing a young man exercising on the beach of the Lido in Venice, and one can assume that the present drypoint was not produced on the basis of a preparatory drawing but scratched onto the plate ‘en pleine aire’, there and then.
It is the spontaneity and the quick pace of his lines, which convey a sense of tension and speed so characteristic for Boccioni’s later works.

Only a very small number of impressions were printed by the artist. Of the present version B, Bellini records only one impression, in a private collection in Geneva. The present impression was not known to him.

More from Prints & Multiples

View All
View All