Alberto Magnelli

Estate of the artist
Sale: Sotheby's, London, 24th June 1993, lot 14
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Liège, Salle de l'Emulation, Magnelli, 1951, no. 11
Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Alberto Magnelli, 1954, no. 80
Kassel, Museum Fridericianum, Documenta: Kunst des XX Jahrhunderts, 1955, no. 369
Copenhagen, Charlottenborg, Maleri, Grafik, Skulptur, Arkitektur, Kunsthaandvaerk, 1956, no. 4, illustrated in the catalogue
Rome, Rome-New York Art Foundation, New Trends in Italian Art - Nuove Tendenze dell'Arte Italiana, 1958, no. 32, illustrated in the catalogue
Zurich, Kunsthaus, Alberto Magnelli, 1963, no. 106
Florence, Palazzo Strozzi, Alberto Magnelli, 1963, no. 100
Stockholm, Moderna Museet, Notre musée tel qu'il devrait être, 1963-64, no. 139A, illustrated in the catalogue
Arras, Cercle Noroit, Magnelli: peintures, gouaches, temperas, 1966, no. 7
Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Magnelli, 1968, no. 88
Strasbourg, Musée de l'Ancienne Douane, Alberto Magnelli, 1969
Malmö, Konsthall, Klar Form II, 1984, no. 73

Julien Alvard & Roger Van Gindertaël, Témoignages pour l'art abstrait, Paris, 1952, illustrated p. 203
François Le Lionnais, Magnelli, Paris, 1960, illustrated p. 28
Murillo Mendes, Magnelli, Rome, 1964, illustrated pl. LVII
Anne Maisonnier, Alberto Magnelli, l'œuvre peint, catalogue raisonné, Paris, 1975, no. 640, illustrated p. 141

The canvas is unlined and there is no evidence of retouching under ultra-violet light. There is a water stain on the reverse of the canvas, which has not affected the paint surface. This work is in very good original condition. Colours: In comparison with the printed catalogue illustration, the yellow of the background is much stronger and brighter, and the other colours are slightly fresher in the original.
"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."

By the time Magnelli executed the present work in 1949, he had received wide-spread recognition as a leading abstract artist, both in his native Italy, and in France, where he lived at the time. Having spent the war years in Provence, where he became close to artists including Jean Arp and Sonia Delaunay, his return to Paris was marked by several one-man exhibitions. His style during this period was dominated by a dynamic abstraction. The preference for geometric shapes and simplified forms is derived from the Cubist artists' approach to pictorial composition, while the strong black outlines and large areas of unmodulated colour point to Matisse's art. A Perte de vue is a wonderful example of the way in which Magnelli was able to combine these disparate sources into a harmonious composition.

 

As Murillo Mendes observed: 'Magnelli's style, then, was well-defined when, immediately after the war, he began to dominate artistic life in Paris, attracting the young artists to him. Having been a forerunner, Magnelli became a consolidator of Abstraction [...] With his works, Magnelli bears devastating witness to the fact that abstraction applied to art becomes the quintessence of reality. Together with other masters, he leads us into believing that a picture is not something outside reality: it is an instrument adapted to the tuning in to one or many aspects of numberless realities; a means of stripping the physical universe of some of its accessories; an object of knowledge' (M. Mendes, op. cit., pp. 57-58).