- 264
MARINO MARINI | Guendalina
Estimate
250,000 - 350,000 USD
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Description
- Marino Marini
- Guendalina
- Signed Marino (upper left); signed twice Marino, dated 1932 and titled (on the reverse)
- Oil on board mounted on board
- 62 1/2 by 37 1/2 in.
- 158.75 by 95.2 cm
- Painted in 1932.
Provenance
Dominion Gallery, Montreal (acquired directly from the artist)
Acquired from the above on April 3, 1969
Acquired from the above on April 3, 1969
Exhibited
Toronto, Instituto Italiano di Cultura, Marino Marini: Sculptures, Paintings and Drawings, 1998, n.n.
Literature
Marina Marini, Marino Marini: Diario Fotografico Raccontato da Marina, Turin, 1972, illustrated p. 124
Condition
This work is in good condition. The board is sound. The medium is well preserved and the surface is richly textured. There is a small loss to the board at the extreme upper right corner which is not visible when the work is framed. There are some extremely minor paint losses, presumably the result of frame abrasion, along the extreme perimeter of the board and some remnants of gold pigment which also has presumably been transferred from the frame, most notably along the right and left edges. This is also not visible when the work is framed. There are a few scattered pinholes throughout the board which are inherent to the medium. Otherwise, fine. Under UV light:there are numerous strokes of in-painting throughout the border of the picture to address frame abrasion. There are further several spots of inpainting in the figure's torso, above her knee, and above the dog. There are two other small areas of possible inapainting in the orange pigment in the lower right quadrant.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
Catalogue Note
A staunchly didactic artist, Marini sought to reconcile his intensive study of the past with the modern aesthetic of his day. Abraham Marie Hammacher discusses the nature of this duality: “His task became this: to take the two heterogeneous elements of history, the tradition that molded him in his youth and the life of his own age and, by involving them both in the very essence of his being, to restore them to a single root” (Abraham Marie Hammacher, Marino Marini: Sculpture, Painting and Drawing, London, 1971, p. 12).
The bands of harlequins, saltimbanques and actors of the Commedia dell’Arte and related productions of the nineteenth century are one of the most prominent examples of this synthesis. Scenes from the Commedia dell'Arte had been perennial favorites of European artists since the mid-1500s, and had readily been utilized by artists including Antoine Watteau, Georges Seurat and Pablo Picasso. “Owing to his background as a painter and draftsman, Marini was still under the spell of motifs from the world of the performing arts—the borderland of society—which appeared in painting at the end of the nineteenth century and continued through Picasso’s Blue and Rose periods and which were brought to life again by Calder in 1928 in his wire-figure circus. In Marini’s sculptures the play motifs were removed from the sphere of action and brought to rest and immobility” (ibid., p. 17; see fig. 1)
The present work takes one of these peripheral figures as its subject, modernizing her in the vibrant colors of Marini’s day and demonstrating the artist’s extraordinary facility in manipulating color and painterly form. Fascinated by the richness of oil painting and the freedom it gave him, the artist himself commented: “Painting is a vision of color. Painting means entertaining the poetry of fact; and in the process of its making the fact becomes true. In color, I looked for the beginning of each new idea. Whether one should call it painting or drawing, I do not know" (quoted in Sam Hunter, Marino Marini, The Sculpture, New York, 1993, p. 37). The satisfaction the artist found in painting is evident in the present work in the overlapping layers of pigment, resulting in visual depth and a rich surface texture.
Fig. 1 Pablo Picasso, L’Acteur, 1904-05, oil on canvas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by the Fondazione Marino Marini.
The bands of harlequins, saltimbanques and actors of the Commedia dell’Arte and related productions of the nineteenth century are one of the most prominent examples of this synthesis. Scenes from the Commedia dell'Arte had been perennial favorites of European artists since the mid-1500s, and had readily been utilized by artists including Antoine Watteau, Georges Seurat and Pablo Picasso. “Owing to his background as a painter and draftsman, Marini was still under the spell of motifs from the world of the performing arts—the borderland of society—which appeared in painting at the end of the nineteenth century and continued through Picasso’s Blue and Rose periods and which were brought to life again by Calder in 1928 in his wire-figure circus. In Marini’s sculptures the play motifs were removed from the sphere of action and brought to rest and immobility” (ibid., p. 17; see fig. 1)
The present work takes one of these peripheral figures as its subject, modernizing her in the vibrant colors of Marini’s day and demonstrating the artist’s extraordinary facility in manipulating color and painterly form. Fascinated by the richness of oil painting and the freedom it gave him, the artist himself commented: “Painting is a vision of color. Painting means entertaining the poetry of fact; and in the process of its making the fact becomes true. In color, I looked for the beginning of each new idea. Whether one should call it painting or drawing, I do not know" (quoted in Sam Hunter, Marino Marini, The Sculpture, New York, 1993, p. 37). The satisfaction the artist found in painting is evident in the present work in the overlapping layers of pigment, resulting in visual depth and a rich surface texture.
Fig. 1 Pablo Picasso, L’Acteur, 1904-05, oil on canvas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by the Fondazione Marino Marini.