Sotheby’s Milanese Spring Sale

By Alessandra Stefanini @ale_heloise

The inauguration of the 57th Venice Biennale is just few days away and Sotheby’s up the ante with a two-day sale of Modern and Contemporary Art in Milan: are you planning your trip to Italy, aren’t you?
Well, if you still uncertain you need to know that the world-renowned auction house Sotheby’s has some tricks up its sleeve, with a large range of high quality works from the most desirable post war Italian artists on sale on the 4th and the 5th May.

«This Spring Sale was scheduled before the Venice Biennale and New York auctions and is a precious opportunity to win masterpieces of Italian art from prestigious Italian and foreign collections - commented Beatrice Botta and Marta Giani, Deputy Directors Co-Head of sale Contemporary Art - Some works by Alberto Burri stand out for freshness and compositional fullness: the 1967 rhomboid "Plastic Combustion" is a study for the stained-glass window of the Convent of Zion in Switzerland, by the Venetian architect Mirco Ravanne in those same years. Combustion interprets with great power the spirituality and dramatic nature of the Christian message, while maintaining its own autonomy of language».

Alberto Burri, Combustione Plastica, 1967, cm 60x90

One of the beautiful works under special surveillance is the Lucio Fontana’s Concetto Spaziale, Attese, a special lot from a private collection never seen before on the market, a harmonious five cuts performed in 1966 that «expresses in the elegant and unusual variation of light gray, the refinement of the artist's most mature works» as the experts affirm.

Lucio Fontana, Concetto Spaziale, Attese, 1966, cm 50 x 60

The spring auction is a selected collection of around one hundred lots, coming from important international collections, such as the wonderful tapestry of Alighiero Boetti (estimated € 250,000-350,000), illustrated on the cover of the catalogue. Like what Mariuccia Casadio said on “Alighiero Boetti, Quasi tutto”, his tapestries are «Exact superimposition of writing and drawing. Idea and execution. Art and life», in fact we can know more about the encounter between Alighiero and his Afghan collaborators translating the Farsi text «Alighiero e Boetti and his Afghan employees met in the beautiful city of Peshawar and called this evening the Memorial Evening. There was a full moon. The moonlight was as beautiful and enchanting as a beautiful bride with make-up». It’s pure magic, isn’t it?

Alighiero Boetti, SENZA TITOLO (NERO SU BIANCO E BIANCO SU NERO, TRA ORIZZONTALE E VERTICALE, CINQUE X CINQUE VENTICINQUE…), 1988, cm 118×108

The sale will also feature some important works by Vincenzo Agnetti, sculptures by Melotti (like the ironic-surreal Diavoleria, dated 1980 and estimated € 100.000-150.000) and an extraordinary work by Giulio Paolini “Zeusi e Parrasio”. Last but not least, two Josef Albers's "Homage to the Square”, characterized by the artist’s typical use of colours. On sale you’ll be able to win a red one (1969) and the yellow Study for Homage to the Square (1961), both from the Beyeler gallery in Basel, estimated between € 200.000 and 300.000.

Josef Albers, Study for Homage to the Square, 1969, cm 61 x 61

If you want to know more about the auction and all the lots for sale, you can download the catalogue here or visit the official Sotheby’s page.

ASTA D’ARTE MODERNA E CONTEMPORANEA, SOTHEBY’S MILANO
Session 1, lots 1–44: 4 May 2017, 7 pm
Session 2, lots 101–161: 5 May 2017, 3 pm

Palazzo Serbelloni, C.so Venezia 16 Milano