Estimated Price:

   $   

Realized Price:

   $   

What is this symbol? This symbol indicates that this auction hose has verified this price result.

Log in or subscribe to view price data

PROPERTY FROM A BRITISH ESTATE

1912-1987
INTERNO CON ACCESSORI DI STUDIO (DAMIGIANA, CESTO E SEDIA)

measurements
156 by 205cm.

alternate measurements
61 3/8 by 80 3/4 in.

Painted in 1960.

signed and dated '60

oil and gouache on joined sheets of paper laid down on canvas

PROVENANCE

McRoberts & Tunnard Gallery, London (acquired from the artist)
Thence by descent to the present owners

EXHIBITED

Venice, XXX Biennale Internazionale d'Arte, 1960, no. 12
London, McRoberts & Tunnard Gallery, Guttuso, 1960, no. 10
Parma, Palazzo della Pilotta, Renato Guttuso: Mostra antologica dal 1931 ad oggi, 1963-64, no. 161

LITERATURE

Paese sera, Rome, 17th June 1960, illustrated p. 3
Vie Nuove, Rome, 2nd July 1960, vol. XV, no. 27, illustrated in colour p. 19
Arts, October 1960, vol. 35, no. 1, illustrated p. 30
Elio Vittorini, Storia di Renato Guttuso, Milan, 1960, no. 17, illustrated in colour p. XXXVI (as dating from 1959 and with incorrect medium)
Arturo Martini, 'L'Ottocento e il Novecento', in Pittura in Europa, Milan, 1963, vol. V, illustrated in colour p. 282
Il Nuovo Piccolo, Parma, 1964, supplement to no. 1, illustrated
L'Arte Moderna, Milan, 1967, vol. XII, no. 104, illustrated in colour p. 171
'Conosci l'Italia', in L'Arte Moderna, Milan, 1968, vol. XII, illustrated in colour pl. 204
Mario de Micheli, Renato Guttuso, Sofia, 1970, pl. 57, illustrated in colour p. 117
Fabbri Editori (ed.), Renato Guttuso, Milan, 1976, fig. 95, illustrated
Enrico Crispolti, Catalogo Ragionato Generale dei dipinti di Renato Guttuso, Milan, 1984, vol. II, no. 60/36, illustrated p. 186 (with incorrect medium)

NOTE

In the early 1960s, Guttuso executed a number of works depicting the corner of the artist's studio, combining the genres of interior and still-life. Chair, wicker baskets, paint brushes and bottles reminiscent of those painted by Giorgio Morandi, constitute the iconography of this series. Influenced by the Cubists' break-up of form, Guttuso abandons the traditional rules of depth and perspective, and scatters his object throughout the picture plane in a way that brings them all close to the viewer's eye. As Mario De Micheli commented:

'The decomposition and composition of planes according to a pure sculptural criterion of bringing objects all equally into the forefront are the procedures which now come most naturally to him. But already, in these pictures, he introduces light 'fugues', spaces of pure chromatic vibration, which without being naturalistic have a real consistency. In this space objects move forward or backwards in accordance with a different dimension, aided by a simultaneous multiplicity of points of view. In his search for movement and expressive efficacy, Guttuso used foreshortening and irregular planes, but in the past while there they were mainly connected to the expressionist taste, whereas here they help to serve a new lyrical definition of space' (M. De Micheli, Guttuso, Milan, 1966).

The first owners of this work, McRoberts & Tunnard Gallery in London, were the sole representatives of several Italian artists, including Guttuso and Lucio Fontana, in Britain. The gallery closed soon after the death of one of its owners, Neil McRoberts, in 1964, and the present work has remained in his family to this day.