AFRO | Composizione Rosso Giallo

Galerie Änne Abels, Cologne
Private Collection, Germany
Thence by descent to the present owner

Cologne, Galerie Änne Abels, Afro, March - May 1959

Mario Graziani, Afro: Catalogo Generale Ragionato Dai Documenti Dell'Archivio Afro, Rome 1997, p. 158, no. 352, illustrated in colour

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the overall tonality is brighter and richer in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Close inspection reveals some slight puckering to all four extreme edges, some faint horizontal stretcher bar marks and some slight slacking to the canvas. Very close inspection reveals some very faint drying cracks in isolated places throughout some of which have tiny specks of associated loss. Extremely close inspection reveals a few tiny rub marks in isolated places to the extreme overturn edges. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultra-violet light.
"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."

Created as an intense celebration of colour and light, Composizione Rosso Giallo by Italian artist Afro is a festival of vibrancy that radiates from the canvas like a speckled sunset forcing its deep drowsy rays through the thick clouds. An explosion of elements emanate from the canvas, poetically brought to life by Afro’s brush. This sensuous work, full of warm, soft shape,s creates a mellow calming atmosphere of relaxed abstraction. Composizione Rosso Giallo is utterly typical of Afro, his spirit never being cold or structural but fluid and festive. A wistful note may occasionally creep into his palette but his style has never been interpreted with strokes of tragedy. Afro sings to his canvas, in merriment of brightness and elation. Afro’s early career in the 1930s focused on painting still life, landscapes, portraits and murals, absorbing the artistic influences of the time. An opportunity to travel to America in 1950 to visit the studio of Arshile Gorky, confirmed to Afro his new interest and tendency towards the decomposition of elements, disconnecting them in a static sense, but still united by a centrifugal motion. Lucid signs, rounded contours and a brighter palette replaced the angular forms and monochromatic pictorial language of earlier years. The light deforms and frays the thickening image and its colours. Freed from representative restrictions and resigned to an abstract language, Afro’s paintings after 1952 feature objects that have been more and more diminished. The acclaimed Italian art critic Cesare Brandi recognised that “Afro’s paintings can be interpreted in terms of light. A light which is behind the colour, praises it, pushes it forward” (Brandi Cesare, Afro, Siena 1981, n.p.).

Afro took his inspiration from Venice, drawing on the city of celebrations, of free and joyous festivities. The focus is not however on twentieth century Venice, but the Venice of the Venetian noonday or rich sunset. This is the reflection of colour we see in Afro’s canvases. His link with this tradition, with the glories of his great predecessors is how we are guided to view Afro’s work. Even though Afro uses his heritage as a muse, it is always his own sensibility, that unfailing instinct for the handling of his means which gives his work its’ consistent air of spontaneity, grace and gladness which today sets Afro apart as one of the pure lyricists of contemporary painting. Afro himself stressed the spiritual quality to his practice; "my painting has always been subjective and always pursued a space composed of memory, rediscovered emotion and intuition" (Afro cited in: Exh. Cat., London, Connaught Brown, Afro Basaldella 1912-1976, 2015, p. 13).