Post-War Italian Art Highlights

Following on from the success of Eyes Wide Open: An Italian Vision in February 2014, the Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Auction shines a spotlight on Post-War Italian art, presenting an exceptional array of works by the foremost masters of the period. Deconstructing traditional conceptions of space, material and perspective, the revolutionary approach of the artists featured continues to be an enormous influence on the progress of art in the 21st century. Highlights include examples from Fontana’s influential practice, from Concetto spaziale, Attese (il sole), 1959, a rare ode to the sun situated at the dawn of Fontana’s series of cut paintings, to the significant sculpture Concetto spaziale, Natura, 1959–1960. Pistoletto’s Donna nuda che avvita una lampadina (Nude Women Affixing a Light Bulb) is an important early mirror-painting depicting the nude figure of Maria Pioppi: his life-long artistic collaborator and companion. Featuring major works from the panorama of Post-War Italian art, the sale offers key examples of Boetti’s diverse oeuvre, alongside Gnoli’s entrancing Inside of Lady’s Shoe, 1969, and Paolo Scheggi’s Intersuperficie curva biana, 1967, the largest painting by the artist ever to come to auction.