Walter Benoldi Oil on Canvas Italy 20th Century - Still Life with Mimosas abd Violin 1934

Sur le Canapé d'Argent pâle 1911

Color lithograph on vellum paper. The title at the bottom left. On the passepartout the name and the wording "original lithographie". It is planche n.10 of the "Amour" series, created in 1899 by the French artist and inspired by the love poems Denis wrote for his future wife, Marthe Meurier. Some replicas of the initial series were made, of which the one on tissue paper dated 1911. Maurice Denis, French painter, was artistically formed in coincidence with the birth of the symbolist movement that strongly influenced him, imposing himself for his simplicity and for his philosophy of a art that was a synthesis between the external world and the artist's spirituality. In his earliest works, the pictorial style was naturalist and neo-impressionist, but over time tended towards a pure decorativism, characterized by areas of flat color and clear outlines. In 1888, at the Julian Academy in Paris, Maurice Denis founded with Paul Sérusier, Pierre Bonnard and Paul Ranson, the group of painters Nabis (Prophets), a group that drew on the works and poetics of Paul Gauguin in their aesthetic ideals. , for the overcoming of Impressionist naturalism through a return to primitive and Japanese art. Of the Nabis meetings, usually held in the editorial office of the magazine "Revue Blanche" or at the Ranson Academy, Denis particularly appreciated the mystical climate, the esoteric jargon and the nickname that each painter received from the group: Denis was called "the Nabi by the nice pictures". As "Nabi" Maurice Denis painted intimate, enigmatic pictures and the themes of his painting, of a religious nature or situations of everyday life, were brought into an ideal and unreal dimension, in an atmosphere of warm and serene intimacy, obtained with an extremely delicate feature. A constant in his life was the profession of the Catholic faith, which always had a priority role for him. He received numerous commissions for the decoration of churches and this made him return to the great tradition of mural painting by performing solemn frescoes of monumental structure, inspired by a literary Catholicism. The religious fervor led Maurice Denis to found, in 1919, the Ateliers d'Art Sacré, dedicating a lot of time to prayer, so much so that he became the tertiary of San Domenico, without isolating him from the world, for which he participated in the social life of the time. In addition to his vast production as a painter, Denis was a great draftsman and illustrator. Until his death Maurice Denis continued to paint in a modern interpretation of the great ancient painting, supported by his strong artistic vein, continuously fueled by his travels, many of them in Italy, which led him to come into direct contact with the Pre-Raphaelites and the neoclassicals.

La Loi Divine 1927

Ink on paper. Signature, date and title below. Accompanied by authentication on photo from Galleria Giò Marconi in Milan and stamp from private archive. It is the drawing of the young artist who soon became one of the most important exponents of world surrealism, who was a poet and painter, but also a filmmaker, art and film critic, photographer and humorous designer. Born in the north of France, in 1927 he settled in Paris, where he came into contact with a group of young poets and philosophers, with whom he founded the '' Grand Jeu '' movement: play is understood as an art of living. Since 1928 he has collaborated with texts, poems and drawings for the movement's magazine and in the meantime he collaborates as an editor and reporter with various Parisian newspapers.In 1932, having exhausted the experience of the `` Grand Jeu '', he passes to the surrealist movement, collaborating on its publications and participating in its exhibitions. His humor turns towards the unusual and cruelty, more and more derisive of the absurdity of everyday life, of the tragic side of common existence, to which the spirit and the unconscious rebel, trying to access the unobservable. Knows Salvador Dalí. In 1939 he also began his activity as a filmmaker. In 1941 his first personal exhibition took place in Paris: the first buyer was Pablo Picasso. Participate in all surrealist exhibitions, including the 1947 international one in Paris. In 1951, for reasons relating to the internal discipline of the group, he abandoned the surrealist movement with others, while continuing to practice its poetics. In 1955 he also became passionate about photography. Since 1968 he has devoted himself almost exclusively to painting, abandoning the activity of humorous draftsman. In the same year he settled permanently in Milan: in Italy he exhibited in various personal exhibitions, those in Milan at the Galleria Marconi. The work presented here, an early drawing, comes from an important Milanese private collection. It is presented in a frame.

Untitled 1930

Ink on paper. Signature and date below. Accompanied by authentication on photo from Galleria Giò Marconi in Milan and stamp from private archive. It is the drawing of the young artist who soon became one of the most important exponents of world surrealism, who was a poet and painter, but also a filmmaker, art and film critic, photographer and humorous designer. Born in the north of France, in 1927 he settled in Paris, where he came into contact with a group of young poets and philosophers, with whom he founded the '' Grand Jeu '' movement: play is understood as an art of living. Since 1928 he has collaborated with texts, poems and drawings for the movement's magazine and in the meantime he collaborates as an editor and reporter with various Parisian newspapers.In 1932, having exhausted the experience of the `` Grand Jeu '', he passes to the surrealist movement, collaborating on its publications and participating in its exhibitions. His humor turns towards the unusual and cruelty, more and more derisive of the absurdity of everyday life, of the tragic side of common existence, to which the spirit and the unconscious rebel, trying to access the unobservable. Knows Salvador Dalí. In 1939 he also began his activity as a filmmaker. In 1941 his first personal exhibition took place in Paris: the first buyer was Pablo Picasso. Participate in all surrealist exhibitions, including the 1947 international one in Paris. In 1951, for reasons relating to the internal discipline of the group, he abandoned the surrealist movement with others, while continuing to practice its poetics. In 1955 he also became passionate about photography. Since 1968 he has devoted himself almost exclusively to painting, abandoning the activity of humorous draftsman. In the same year he settled permanently in Milan: in Italy he exhibited in various personal exhibitions, those in Milan at the Galleria Marconi. The work presented here, an early drawing, comes from an important Milanese private collection. It is presented in a frame.

Le Prophète 1927

Ink on paper. Signature, date and title below. Accompanied by authentication on photo from Galleria Giò Marconi in Milan and stamp from private archive. It is the drawing of the young artist who soon became one of the most important exponents of world surrealism, who was a poet and painter, but also a filmmaker, art and film critic, photographer and humorous designer. Born in the north of France, in 1927 he settled in Paris, where he came into contact with a group of young poets and philosophers, with whom he founded the '' Grand Jeu '' movement: play is understood as an art of living. Since 1928 he has collaborated with texts, poems and drawings for the movement's magazine and in the meantime he collaborates as an editor and reporter with various Parisian newspapers.In 1932, having exhausted the experience of the `` Grand Jeu '', he passes to the surrealist movement, collaborating on its publications and participating in its exhibitions. His humor turns towards the unusual and cruelty, more and more derisive of the absurdity of everyday life, of the tragic side of common existence, to which the spirit and the unconscious rebel, trying to access the unobservable. Knows Salvador Dalí. In 1939 he also began his activity as a filmmaker. In 1941 his first personal exhibition took place in Paris: the first buyer was Pablo Picasso. Participate in all surrealist exhibitions, including the 1947 international one in Paris. In 1951, for reasons relating to the internal discipline of the group, he abandoned the surrealist movement with others, while continuing to practice its poetics. In 1955 he also became passionate about photography. Since 1968 he has devoted himself almost exclusively to painting, abandoning the activity of humorous draftsman. In the same year he settled permanently in Milan: in Italy he exhibited in various personal exhibitions, those in Milan at the Galleria Marconi. The work presented here, an early drawing, comes from an important Milanese private collection. It is presented in a frame.

Les Bouches de Naples gemissent de Terreur ou de Plaisir 1969

Ink on paper. Signature, date and title below. Accompanied by authentication on photo from Galleria Giò Marconi in Milan and stamp from private archive. It is the drawing of the young artist who soon became one of the most important exponents of world surrealism, who was a poet and painter, but also a filmmaker, art and film critic, photographer and humorous designer. Born in the north of France, in 1927 he settled in Paris, where he came into contact with a group of young poets and philosophers, with whom he founded the '' Grand Jeu '' movement: play is understood as an art of living. Since 1928 he has collaborated with texts, poems and drawings for the movement's magazine and in the meantime he collaborates as an editor and reporter with various Parisian newspapers.In 1932, having exhausted the experience of the `` Grand Jeu '', he passes to the surrealist movement, collaborating on its publications and participating in its exhibitions. His humor turns towards the unusual and cruelty, more and more derisive of the absurdity of everyday life, of the tragic side of common existence, to which the spirit and the unconscious rebel, trying to access the unobservable. Knows Salvador Dalí. In 1939 he also began his activity as a filmmaker. In 1941 his first personal exhibition took place in Paris: the first buyer was Pablo Picasso. Participate in all surrealist exhibitions, including the 1947 international one in Paris. In 1951, for reasons relating to the internal discipline of the group, he abandoned the surrealist movement with others, while continuing to practice its poetics. In 1955 he also became passionate about photography. Since 1968 he has devoted himself almost exclusively to painting, abandoning the activity of humorous draftsman. In the same year he settled permanently in Milan: in Italy he exhibited in various personal exhibitions, those in Milan at the Galleria Marconi. The work presented here, an early drawing, comes from an important Milanese private collection. It is presented in a frame.

Female portrait 1950

Oil on canvas. Signed and dated (1-5-1950) in the lower left corner. Born in Bologna but artistically trained at the Brera Academy in Milan, in the early 1900s he studied in Paris, where he can admire the painting of the great masters of the past and follow with great interest the new pictorial trends that advance in the climate of general renewal brought by the new century. In fact, influences of themes such as symbolism and divisionism can be found in his paintings of the first decades of the twentieth century, but Mascarini chooses not to let himself go by the new currents that acclaim the deconstruction of form, remaining in the enclosure of his studio to paint the affections and gazes. of everyday life closest to him. His figurative language draws on the Lombard naturalism of the late nineteenth century, his painting is framed in a sober and balanced drawing. Landscape and portrait painter, he proposes delicate and placid scenarios, such as the glaciers he paints as he climbs in the silence of the high mountains that he loves very much, and portraits with faces harmoniously framed by soft brushstrokes, which express intimate feelings. The portrait of a lady presented here proposes a figure who, although elegant in her evening outfit, expresses serenity, calmness, intimacy rather than worldliness in her face and pose. The work is presented in a contemporary frame.

The blue coccoma, 1960

Oil on canvas. Signed and dated lower left. Further signature, date and title on the back. A Milanese artist descended from a cadet branch of the Gonzaga nobles of Mantua, Giovan Francesco took part in the Second World War with the Savoy Cavalry when he was still twenty years old, participating with the “Fantasma” squadron in patrol actions in the Russian steppe. The months spent in close contact with the horse during the war sparked in him a real passion for horses, which became the privileged subject of numerous paintings, sculptures and poems. Self-taught artist, he declared "Nature is my true teacher", and faithful to it, after horses, he devoted himself mainly to landscapes and still lifes, always depicted "en plein air". Vittorio Sgarbi wrote about him: "The wisdom of Giovan Francesco Gonzaga lies in the design, which is strong and decisive ..... The images vibrate with restlessness, in the sign of man's struggle against himself, in the hell of a a story that always seems to repeat the same drama. But if the preparatory drawing is admirable, the color of this artist has a regality and a sensitivity that come from a musical perception of the color, where the palette is expressed in sudden, variations and rhythms buttons ". His works appear in various museums, including that of the Pinerolo Cavalry, the Historical Museum of the Guardia di Finanza in Rome, the Tel Aviv Museum, the Art Museum of Los Angeles, in public and private collections in Italy, France, Spain, Luxembourg, Indonesia, China, Japan, Singapore and America. In this still life, the colors are especially enhanced: the three elements - the blue coccoma, that is an enameled jug, a cut lemon and a glass of milk -, well spaced and proposed in contrasting colors, stand out against the two shades of green of the background. The work is presented in a frame.

Paris Rue Norvins 1957

Oil on cardboard. Initials of the artist (MVM) and date at the bottom right. On the back there are label and stamps of the Galleria Ponte Rosso in Milan with the data of the work (author, title, date). Trained artistically in his hometown, Modena, Vellani Marchi in 1924, after his debut at the Venice Biennale with some lithographs and etchings of landscape subjects, made his first stay in Burano, where he will also return later giving life with Guido Tallone and others. artists to an association called the "Buranella school". From this moment the landscapes, the figures and the characteristic views of the island much loved by the painter, will constitute a recurring theme in his production. He then moved permanently to Milan, where he approached the world of publishing by collaborating with newspapers and magazines and established himself as a painter, draftsman and illustrator and participated in the most important exhibitions, not only national. After the war, he also collaborated with the Teatro alla Scala creating numerous sets. Several glimpses of Parisian streets are also part of his production of the 1950s, such as this one in a small street in the Montmartre district. The work is framed in style.

Piedmontese landscape

Oil on the table. Signed lower right. On the back this label of the Bolzani Gallery in Milan, with the title of the work. Born in Crespellano (BO) in 1889 by the painter Ugo Gheduzzi, Giuseppe learned the rudiments of art from him together with his brothers Cesare, Mario and Augusto. After his debut in Vignola in 1907 with the painting Alpine landscape, Giuseppe Gheduzzi refined his training in Turin at the Albertina Academy as a pupil of Andrea Marchisio and Paolo Gaidano. Leaving the Academy, he collaborates with his father for the realization of the scenographies of the Teatro Regio. Giuseppe is a skilled landscape painter: he paints Venetian glimpses and panoramas, views of the Piedmont lakes and valleys and of the Ligurian Riviera. But, unlike his brother Cesare, he also excels in interior paintings with figures and orientalist themes: his genre scenes and paintings depicting interiors of craftsmen's shops, antique dealers and stables are particularly appreciated by the public and critics. During his life Giuseppe participated in many reviews of the Promoter of Fine Arts in Turin and in the Circolo degli Artisti in Turin, and made several personal exhibitions. He died in Turin on 21 May 1957. This view of the Piedmont countryside is also part of his vast landscape production, with a solitary figurine walking along the path. The work is presented in a contemporary frame.

Female Portrait

Mixed technique (pastels and tempera) on cardboard. Signed top left. Originally from Alessandria and trained at the Albertina Academy of Fine Arts in Turin, she devoted herself mainly to landscapes, figures, and above all to portraits, making them of various personalities from the world of entertainment and Italian cinema. Dina Bellotti is also known as "the painter of the popes". Starting from the first half of the seventies, in fact, he made some portraits of Paul VI and, later, of John Paul II, kept in the Vatican and used as official images of the popes. The portrait proposed here is that of a refined lady, who lets herself be portrayed in a casual and languid pose: the white with blue shades of the woman's blouse stands out against the beige monochrome of the background, of the skirt, of the armchair, which fade without contrast even in the skin color. The painting is presented in a contemporary frame.

S. Lucia Flower Market

Oil on the table. Signed lower right. On the back the title in pencil. It is a lively and intense glimpse of the Pallonetto di S. Lucia, the well-known Neapolitan terraced alley which, together with those of San Liborio and Santa Chiara, constitutes the three Pallonetti of Naples; striking and peculiar the contrasts of lights and colors Oscar Ricciardi was a prolific Neapolitan painter considered by some to be the head of Neapolitan Impressionism; he painted as main subjects marine, beaches, glimpses, landscapes and Neapolitan customs and traditions of his city. In his works the intense chromatism, the study from life, the abandonment of drawing and the limpid and clear light that pervades the scenes, reveal the knowledge of Impressionism, due to the presence in Naples of Giuseppe De Nittis. The painting is presented in a gilded frame from the early 1900s.

Yellow Flowers in Vase with Frame, 1947

Oil on canvas. Signed and dated lower left. Composition of yellow daisies in vase, with photo frame behind. Noel Quintavalle, (known under the pseudonym Noelqui), a native of Ferrara but raised and artistically trained in Milan, was a multifaceted artist. Graduated in architecture, he was self-taught in the arts, but after the great war in which he actively participated, he quickly distinguished himself and exhibited in numerous national and international exhibitions; in the meantime he also carried out literary activities by publishing various volumes (satire, fairy tales, short memories of the war) and also experimented with sculpture and xylography. His pictorial production, which began as a pointillist, was then influenced by the synthesis of modern painting. The subjects most dear to him were the portrait (with a preference for particular female figures, such as dancers) and the landscape. His production of floral subjects dates back to the 1940s, linked to the period in which he recovered the need for interiority, approaching the aesthetic concepts of the art of the "twentieth century". The work is presented in a contemporary frame.