Auktion: Modernt & samtida
Till katalogen
To be sold at Uppsala Auktionskammare’s Important Sale Week 16-18 June 2020
Lot 801. Renato Guttuso (Italy 1911‑1987) Still life with pitcher, teapot and bottles. Signed Guttuso upper left and signed and dated Guttuso ’47 Roma on reverse. Oil on canvas, 55 x 80 cm.
200.000 – 300.000 SEK
€ 19.000 – 28.000
The collection of John Takman (1912‑1998) and Margit Krantz (1917‑2003), acquired directly from the artist in Villa Massimo, Rome in 1947.
Thence by descent to the present owner.
“Painting is my trade, that is my trade and my way of establishing contact with the world. I wish I were passionate and simple, daring and not excessive. I would like to reach complete freedom in art, freedom that, as in life, consists in truth.”
The Italian artist Renato Guttuso showed an aptitude for drawing at a young age. Born in Sicily in 1912, he studied law at Palermo University but decided to give it up to pursue a career as an artist. At the age of thirteen, he began signing his works and his early paintings showed inspiration from Giorgio de Chirico, Gustave Courbet, Vincent Van Gogh and Pablo Picasso. Guttuso spent most of his life in Milan and Rome and was a fervent opponent of fascism, devoted communist and opponent to the Mafia. In 1940 he joined the banned Italian Communist Party and left Rome to participate in the partisan struggle.
Due to his interest in politics, Guttuso’s art often carried a strong political message. Some of his most famous works include “Execution by Firing Squad in the Countryside” from 1938, “La Vucciria” from 1974 and “Crucifixion” from 1941. His expressionism grew stronger over the years and he painted with firm brushstrokes and rich warm colours. Still life scenes depicting nature in bloom, flowers, lemon trees and olive trees are frequently seen in his oeuvre, such as in the striking painting included in this sale. “Still life with pitcher, teapot and bottles” was executed in 1947 when the artist lived in Rome. The painting was acquired by Swedish private collectors at Villa Massimo in Rome, where the artist exhibited his works, and has remained in the same family ever since. In this lively painting, warm colours such as orange, red and yellow blend together with darker tones of grey, green and black. Influenced by cubism, Guttuso changed the forms of everyday objects and depicted them from all angles.
Renato Guttuso’s works are today represented in the Hermitage Museum in
St. Petersburg, the Tate Gallery in London, The Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Palazzo Ruspoli in Rome among others.