Artist: Ardengo Soffici (Italian, 1879-1964)
Title:
Medium: Oil on artist board
Size: 18" x 22 1/12" (45 x 57 cm)
Date: 1926 (Signed dated lower right)
Condition: A few areas of paint loss at lower left, original condition
Notes: Aredengo Soffici was born inåÊRignano sull'Arno, nearåÊFlorence in 1879. He he studied at theåÊAccademiaåÊfrom 1897 and later at the Scuola Libera del Nudo of the academy. In 1900 Ardengo moved toåÊParis,åÊwhere he lived for seven years, working foråÊSymboliståÊjournals, and became acquainted withåÊBraque,åÊDerain,åÊPicasso,åÊGrisåÊandåÊApollinaire.
In 1910 he organised an exhibition ofåÊImpressioniståÊpainting in Florence in association withåÊLa Voce, devoting an entire room to the sculptoråÊMedardo Rosso.
In August 1911 he wrote an article inåÊLa VoceåÊon Picasso and Braque, which probably influenced theåÊFuturistsåÊin the direction ofåÊCubism, which Soffici considered to be an extension of the revolution of the Impressionists. In 1912-1913 Soffici painted in a Cubist style.
After visiting the Futurists' Exhibition of Free Art in Milan, he wrote a hostile review inåÊLa Voce. The leading FuturistsåÊMarinetti,åÊBoccioniåÊandåÊCarrÌÊ, were so incensed by this that they immediately boarded a train for Florence and assaulted Soffici and hisåÊLa VoceåÊcolleagues at theåÊCaff̬ Giubbe Rosse.[ Reviewing the Futurists' Paris exhibition of 1912 in his articleåÊAncora del FuturismoåÊ(Futurism Again) he dismissed their rhetoric, publicity-seeking and their art, but granted that, despite its faults, Futurism was "a movement of renewal, and that is excellent".
After serving in theåÊFirst World War, Soffici married and moved to Poggio a Caiano where he created a distance from Futurism and, discovered a new reverence for Tuscan tradition, and became associated with the "return to order" which manifested itself in the naturalistic landscapes which thereafter dominated his work.
The present lot, painted in 1926, represents an excellent example of Ardengo Soffici‰Ûªs style at this time.