On 24 and 25 May 2022, Il Ponte Auction House's long-awaited appointment with the Modern and Contemporary Art,
returns with a rich catalogue of proposals by national and international artists and competitive starting estimates. The section dedicated to the early 20th-century Italian painting presents a very rare work on paper by Adolfo Wildt from the Giovanni Scheiwiller collection (lot 3, € 12,000 - 15,000), a Futurist oil painting by Enrico Prampolini dated 1923 (lot 9, € 30,000 - 50,000), two paintings by Fortunato Depero dated respectively 1917 and 1923, an extremely rare wooden sculpture by Renato Di Bosso with a rich exhibition history including the Venice Biennale in 1936 and referred by Marinetti as a "masterpiece of Futurist sculpture" executed in 1934 (lot 8, € 8,000 - 12,000) and a Divisionist oil on canvas by Umberto Boccioni dated 1908 coming from the heirs of his friend Mario Nicotra. In addition, Il trionfo di Cesare, an extraordinarily large artwork by Achille Funi dated 1940 (lot 12, € 10,000 - 15,000).
Lot 9 Enrico Prampolini (Modena 1894 - Roma 1956)
"Sottobosco" 1923, oil on board, cm 62x88.
Estimate € 30,000 - 50,000
Lot 8 Renato Di Bosso (Verona 1905 - Arbizzano Di Policella 1982)
"Balilla" 1934, painted wood, h cm 98.
Estimate € 8,000 - 12,000
Lot 12 Achille Funi (Ferrara 1890 - Appiano Gentile 1972)
"Il trionfo di Cesare" 1940, mixed media on cardboard laid down on canvas, cm 75x105.
Estimate € 10,000 - 15,000
At auction, collectors will also find a selection of historical still lifes by Filippo De Pisis of very high quality and datation, executed between 1924 and 1935. To be mentioned: a painting by Massimo Campigli, Attesa dated 1956 (lot 19, € 30,000 - 35,000) and Cagnaccio di San Pietro Leggendo, dated 1926 (lot 20, € 10,000 - 15,000). On the theme of Versilia, a couple of paintings by Ardengo Soffici and a Marina a Forte dei Marmi by Carlo Carrà (lot 22, € 15,000 - 20,000).
Lot 19 Massimo Campigli (Berlino 1895 - St. Tropez 1971)
"Attesa" 1956, oil on canvas laid down on cardboard, cm 64.5x49.5.
Estimate € 30,000 - 35,000
Lot 20 Cagnaccio di San Pietro (Desenzano Del Garda 1897 - Venezia 1946)
"Leggendo" 1926, oil on board, cm 38.5x29.5.
Estimate € 10,000 - 15,000
The section dedicated to the international and national Informal current is rich: the Forma 1 group is represented by Giuseppe Capogrossi, Piero Dorazio, Giulio Turcato with the oil on canvas Composition dated 1955-56, Piero Dorazio and two artworks by Carla Accardi. Among other names to mention, we find Emilio Scanavino, Ennio Morlotti with the oil Adda dated 1956 with a remarkable exhibition and bibliographic history (lot 79, € 15,000 - 25,000), Tancredi with an interesting artwork dated 1959 (lot 82, € 40,000 - 60,000) and a large oil by Renato Birolli dated 1953 (lot 86, € 15,000 - 20,000). Widening the view on the international experimentation of those years we find Hans Hartung, Georges Mathieu with Memoire superposée (lot 74, € 60,000 - 80,000) and, moving across the Atlantic, specifically to America, but still in the context of the multiple declinations of the genre, we find a masterpiece by Mark Tobey dated 1953 with important provenance such as the gallery of Rudolf Zwirner (lot 76, € 100,000 - 120,000).
Lot 82 Tancredi (Feltre 1927 - Roma 1964)
"Untitled" 1959, mixed media on board, cm 70x100.
Estimate € 40,000 - 60,000
Lot 74 Georges Mathieu ( Boulogne-Sur-Mer 192 - Boulogne-Billancourt 2012)
"Memoire superposée" 1990, oil on canvas, cm 100x81.
Estimate € 60,000 - 80,000
Lot 76 Mark Tobey (Centerville 1890 - Basilea 1976)
"Untitled" 1953, tempera on paper laid down on board, cm 36x70,5.
Estimate € 100,000 - 120,000
The department's proposal continues with an interesting nucleus of Arte Povera and Conceptual artworks, Alighiero Boetti's Languidi sguardi assassini tapestry dated 1989 (lot 112, € 35,000 - 40,000), two embroideries Per nuovi desideri dated 1977 (lot 102, € 20,000 - 25,000) and an erased book by Emilio Isgrò dated 1970 from the Gae Aulenti's collection. Pop Art is also represented by several artworks by Mario Schifano, among which the large oil painting Un pittore che si affaccia (1979) (lot 114, € 20,000 - 30,000), Mimmo Rotella with L'automobile italiana (1965) (lot 113, € 25,000 - 30,000) and Michelangelo Pistoletto, Gianfranco Baruchello with Gli anonimi compagni interstiziali (1965) (lot 109, € 10,000 - 15,000) and Love by Robert Indiana (1966).
Lot 112 Alighiero Boetti ( Torino 1940 - Roma 1994 )
"Languidi sguardi assassini" 1989 circa, embroidery,cm 29x30.5.
Estimate € 35,000 - 40,000
Lot 114 Mario Schifano (Homs 1934 - Roma 1998)
"Un pittore che si affaccia" 1979, enamel on canvas with painted frame, cm 193x172.
Estimate € 25,000 - 30,000
The auction catalogue includes numerous works by international artists such as Gaston Chaissac with his 1960 oil painting Un viaggio nelle regioni della ragione (lot 53, € 18,000 - 20,000), Niki de Saint Phalle with Poisson vase, as well as Alain Jacquet, Man Ray, Joan Mirò, Tiger Tateishi and Pablo Picasso. The catalogue will also include a substantial nucleus of artworks by South American artists: three watercolours by Alejandro Xul Solar from the second half of the 1920s from the Fundacion Pan Klub and the Rachel Adler Gallery in New York, two artworks by Wilfred Lam, including a Composition from 1957 (lot 36, € 12,000 - 15,000), a sculpture by Agustín Cárdenas Composition horizontale (1959) from the Galleria Schwarz (lot 37, €20,000 - 25,000) and artworks by artists René Portocarrero, Amelia Pelaez and Fernando Botero.
Lot 36 Wifredo Lam (Sagua La Grande 1902 - Parigi 1982)
"Composition" 1957 circa, pencil and pastel on paper laid down on canvas, cm 68x99.
Estimate € 12,000 - 15,000
Lot 37 Agustín Cardenas (Matanzas 1927 - 2001)
"Composition horizontale" 1959, wood, cm 14x51x11.5.
Estimate € 20,000 - 25,000
As per tradition, an important space is reserved to sculpture with the top lot of the auction: Concetto Spaziale, Natura 1959-1960, a bronze by Lucio Fontana exhibited at Castello di Rivoli in 1987 and at Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome in 1998 (lot 75, € 500,000 - 700,000). Also by the Master of Spatialism is a 1954 terracotta, Crocifissione (lot 116, € 100,000 - 150,000). Two extraordinary sculptures by Fausto Melotti: Ombre vaganti elegant brass dated 1975, exhibited in important international museums both in Europe and overseas (lot 30, € 80,000 - 100,000) and, another masterpiece, Arte del contrappunto plastico n. 1 dated 1969 that had exhibitions all over the world and which has a remarkable curriculum (lot 101, € 100,000 - 150,000). Also worth mentioning among the works on sale are the sculptures by Igor Mitoraj, Andrea Cascella, Niki de Saint Phalle, Arnaldo Pomodoro and Carmelo Cappello.
The second round of the auction will continue on 25 May with over 200 artworks by national and international artists.
Lot 75 Lucio Fontana (Rosario 1899 - Comabbio 1968)
"Concetto spaziale, Natura" 1959-1960, bronze, cm 39x50x45.
Estimate € 500,000 - 700,000
Lot 30 Fausto Melotti (Rovereto 1901 - Milano 1986)
"Ombre vaganti" 1975, brass cm 68x60x31.
Estimate € 80,000 - 120,000
Lot 101 Fausto Melotti (Rovereto 1901 - Milano 1986)
"Arte del contrappunto plastico n. 1" 1969, steel cm 40.5x160x17.7.
Estimate € 100,000 - 150,000