Conrad Marca-Relli

Private Collection (acquired directly from the artist)
Sale: Christie's, New York, Contemporary Art, 8 November 1990, Lot 318
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate. Condition: This work is in very good condition. There is very light wear to all four corner tips. There are hairline cracks running in some places along all four extreme outer edges. There are artist's pin holes scattered in places throughout the composition, original to the work's execution. Some of the collages pieces are slightly undulated, due to the artist's choice of medium. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultra-violet light.
"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."

Conrad Marca Relli's achievement has been to raise collage to a scale and complexity equal to that of monumental painting. Beginning in 1953, Marca-Relli accepted the potential risks inherent in collage and developed it as a complete pictorial system essentially without precedent in modern art. While the Cubists used it as a single element to re-structure the order of reality and the Surrealists applied ambiguous fragments to evoke exterior associations, Marca Relli instead extended and manipulated the pieces to the point at which the work now carried its own full and distinct rage of formal values.

In The Woman of Samura, we see how Marca-Relli has opened and loosened the compacted density of collage after a sojourn to the South of France in 1958. Inspired by the clarity and translucence of Mediterranean sunshine, he continued to explore the movement of synthesized forces, his work now characterised by more dramatic juxtapositions of light and shadow.  As forms broke loose from the earlier density, Marca-Relli opened the solid reality of collage segments against the illusionism of brushed areas of paint. He started to reduce the variety of colours to concentrate on the contrast between one dominant hue with strong blacks and whites. He abandoned the subdued range of off-whites and ochres which characterised his earlier work, instead applying brilliant reds, blues and yellows. These hues were sometimes applied as pieces of coloured linen, but were most frequently painted directly on the canvas surface. A new richness and variation of texture and contrast marked the collages of that year, of which the beautiful The Woman of Samura is one of the most finely realised.