Alberto Magnelli valuation
Self-taught Florentine who arrived at pure abstraction in 1915, before almost anyone in Italy.
Alberto Magnelli was born in Florence in 1888 into a textile family and was entirely self-taught, learning from the Italian primitives in the city's churches.
What a work by Alberto Magnelli is worth
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Bio
Alberto Magnelli was born in Florence in 1888 into a textile family and was entirely self-taught, learning from the Italian primitives in the city's churches. Trips to Paris in 1913 and 1914 put him among Apollinaire, Picasso and Leger, and in 1915 he painted a group of works he called Explosions Lyriques that are fully abstract — remarkably early, and made in isolation. He then returned to figuration for over a decade before committing to abstraction for good in the 1930s. He spent the war years hiding in Grasse alongside Arp and Sonia Delaunay, and died at Meudon in 1971.
The 1915 abstract group is scarce and is the historically important part of the output; the mature post-1930 abstractions, with their interlocking flat shapes and clear contours, form the main market and are principally traded in France, Italy and Switzerland. Magnelli also worked extensively on paper, including the collages on emery paper and packing card made at Grasse during the war under conditions of material shortage, which are distinctive and sought. There is a substantial lithographic output. The artist's estate and the Italian archives handle attribution.
At a glance
- Born
- 1 July 1888, Florence
- Died
- 20 April 1971, Meudon
- Movements
- Concrete art, Movimento Arte Concreta
More on Wikipedia.
The 1909 Biennale, Galerie Pierre and René Drouin
Magnelli began painting in 1907 and, with no formal training, was included in the Venice Biennale in 1909. His first solo exhibition was at the Galleria Materassi in Florence in 1921, and he drifted away from an Italian avant-garde that was moving towards Fascism, which he opposed.
His first major exhibition in Paris was at the Galerie Pierre in 1934, and after the war he showed with René Drouin in 1947. Paris was his home for the rest of his life, and he was a central figure in post-war concrete art and an influence on Victor Vasarely and Nicolas de Staël.
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