Gino Severini

Galerie Berggruen, Paris
Lizzola Collection, Milan
Galleria de' foscherari, Bologna
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1978

Paris, Berggruen Gallery, 1956
Paris, Musée Municipal d'Art Moderne, XII Salon de Mai, 1956
Bologna, Galleria d'arte Maggiore, 1993

Piero Pacini, Severini, Florence, 1966, n. 40-41
Daniela Fonti, Gino Severini Catalogo ragionato, Milan, 1988, n. 350,  illustrated p. 290

Executed on cream wove paper, not laid down, attached to the mount at all four corners. The sheet is slightly undulating, due to the application of collage elements and inherent to the artist's technique. There are two pin holes towards the centre and upper left corner. There are two small and unobtrusive tears along the right edge, one along the upper edge and one by the left upper edge. This work is in overall good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

It is to Georges Braque that we must look for the first ever use of wallpaper fragments in art, when he added them to a series of charcoal drawings which he executed in the early twentieth century. Picasso, excited by the idea of being able to play with the surface of his works, executed Nature morte à la chaise cannée in the spring of 1912, a masterpiece which now resides in the Musée National in Paris. In this collage, Picasso fixed different fragments of paper (including, amongst others, newspaper and wallpaper) to the canvas to create one of the earliest examples of Synthetic Cubism. These papier-collé or collage experiments were soon absorbed into the art-historical narrative of Synthetic Cubism, a style which Severini was quick to adopt in the wake of his Futurist period.

During his brief residence in Aix-les-Bains during the summer of 1918, Severini was immediately struck by a decorative element in his new home which inspired the peculiar dotted frame of Natura morta: carte da gioco e pipa and which encircles the figurative composition with naïve elegance: 'in that home I had found the walls decorated with a special type of wallpaper that I enjoyed very much, giving me useful elements inspiring a few works. What had interested me the most of such wallpaper was the use, against a warm grey tone, of small black dots and white dots' (translated from Italian, quoted in D. Fonti, Gino Severini Catalogo ragionato, Milan, 1988, p. 36). The present work is a wonderful example of flattened, fragmented form, and a testament to the artist's innovative approach to pictorial language.