Alberto Magnelli

Collection particuliere, France
Vente : Calmels Cohen, Paris, 21 mars 2004, lot 179
Acquis lors de cette vente par le proprietaire actuel

Bruxelles, Palais des Beaux-Arts Bruxelles ; Paris,  Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Magnelli 1909-1918, 1972-73

Anne Maisonnier, Alberto Magnelli, Catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre peint, Paris, 1975, no. 72, reproduit p. 73
Daniel Abadie (ed.), Magnelli, Musée national d'art moderne avec le concours de l'Association pour Magnelli, Paris, 1989, reproduit p. 82

The canvas is not lined. Ultra violet light examination reveals some very minor superficial intermittent retouchings along the edges, mostly at the extreme top edge and towards the bottom right corner. This work is in excellent condition
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signed 'Magnelli', titled 'Donna alla Bluse gialla', dated 'Firenze 1916-1917' (on the reverse), oil on canvas. Painted in Florence 1916-17.

 

"Je crois qu'une certaine quantité de couleur, pas seule mais à côté d'autres, s'illumine et brille comme si elle se brisait dans le sens divisionniste. Donc cette froideur qui pourrait apparaître, n'est valable que séparée, et disparaît chaque fois que l'on réussit à unir dans la rétine, c'est-à-dire dans le regard, toutes les couleurs de la peinture" (Extrait d'une lettre d'Alberto Magnelli à son camarade florentin Ardengo Soffici, datée du 17 janvier 1917, parfaitement contemporaine de la composition de cette Donna alla blusa gialla). Cette importante huile sur toile frappe par l'adresse de l'artiste italien à introduire, dans des accords et des contrastes à la fois nets et chatoyants, une figure de femme dans un exercice de pure abstraction géométrique. 

 

"I think that a certain amount of colour, not on its own but next to others, glows and shines as if it were breaking up in a divisionist sense.  Therefore the coldness that can appear is only valuable if it is separated, and disappears whenever we manage to unite all the colours of painting in the retina, in other words, in the gaze" (Extract from a letter from Alberto Magnelli to his Florentine friend Ardengo Soffici, dated 17^th January 1917, at the time of the composition of Donna alla blusa gialla). Magnelli was in fact in ill health and had been unable to paint until June of this wartime year.  This important oil on canvas is striking for the Italian artist's skilful introduction, though the clear yet shimmering combinations and contrasts, of a female figure into a purely abstract geometrical composition. In 1917 Alberto Magnelli had already forged a significant, totally unique career that nevertheless had its roots in the tradition of the Quattrocento masters. He was born into an aristocratic Florentine family and received no formal training.