The following
description for has been prepared entirely by the current owner, Roberts S.
Fastov, Esq., and, at the collector’s request, has not been edited by Sloans
& Kenyon
Note 1) Wikipedia provides the
following Sassu biographical information:
Aligi
Sassu (July 17, 1912 – July 17,
2000) was an Italian painter and sculptor.
[edit]Biography
Aligi
Sassu was born in Milan, Lombardy,
into a Sardinian-origin family. His father Antonio was one of the founders
of the Italian Socialist
Party (Partito Socialista Italiano)
at Sassari in
1894, and had moved to Milan in 1896, where he had married Lina Pedretti in
1911. At the beginning of 1920, the Sassu family moved back to Sardinia to Thiesi, where
Antonio opened a shop. After three years, the family returned to Milan, where
Aligi got interested into arts. Together with friend and Futurist designer Bruno Munari, he decided to present himself to the Futurism leader Filippo
Tommaso Marinetti.
In
1928, he established, along with Bruno Munari, the Manifesto della Pittura (Painting
Manifesto), taking as basic assumption the display of anti-naturalistic forms.
He deeply studied Diego Velázquez and the plastic nude. Of this period is L'Ultima
cena, a painting that sums up Sassu's visual poetic.
In
1930, in Milan, he met Giacomo Manzù, Giandante X (also
known as Dante Persico) and Giuseppe Gorgerino.
In 1934, Sassu started studying Delacroix and the history paintings of the Louvre in
Paris. In this period he also painted what will be his "logo" in the
future, the horse, omnipresent in his future production.
In
1935, he established the Gruppo Rosso with, among
others, Nino Franchina and Vittorio Della Porta.
In 1936, he finished one of his most known paintings Il Caffè, as
well as the Fucilazione nelle Asturie, painted in favour of the
Spanish resistance. He joined the anti-fascistcultural movement of Corrente di Vita in 1938.
After
the Spanish Civil War, he started studying Vincent van Gogh and moved back to Sardinia for
some time. During this period, several paintings were dedicated to the
Sardinian rural life. He also studied mural painting.
In
1963, he moved to the Balearic Islands, to Cala San Vicente then
to Majorca,
to the village of Pollença, Palma,
Spain. In 1967, the cycle Tauromachie was presented by the
Spanish poet Rafael Alberti. Red became Sassu's favourite colour. In 1976, he worked
for the frescoes of Sant'Andrea in Pescara.
In
1964, the Spanish period begins, Sassu bought a house in Majorca,
in Cala San Vicente. Sassu focused on Bull Fightings and on
landscapes of the island, besides the mythological themes, which he deepened
through the use of the acrylic technique.
From
this year on he lives between Majorca and
Italy, and in 1967 he moved to Monticello Brianza. In 1973, he created scenes and costumes of the Sicilian Vespers for the reopening of èTeatro Regio in Turin, and was dedicated a room in the Gallery of
Modern Art in Vatican City. In 1976 he completed two mosaics for Saint Andrea in
Pescara. In 1977 he moved to Can Marimon in Pollença.
In
1982, he received the acknowledgment "The Man who Made Milan Great"
and presented fifty eight watercolours he had made in 1943 as an illustration
to Alessandro Manzoni'sThe Betrothed.
In
1986, he completed 113 works inspired by the Divine Comedy, three of which were purchased by the Pushkin Museum in Moscow.
In
1993, he completed "Miti del Mediterraneo", a ceramic mural of 150
square meters for the new building of the European Parliament in Brussels. The
following year he presented Manuscriptum, a folder with engravings shown
in Sweden at the itinerant exhibition "The bridges by Leonardo".
In
1995, he exhibited at the Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Bergamo and
he is nominated Cavaliere della Gran Croce by the Italian president.
In 1996 three hundred sixty two works, created between 1927 and 1996, were
donated to the city of Lugano, founding the Aligi Sassu and Helenita Olivares Foundation
is created.
On
17 July 1999, the day of the artist's eighty-seventh birthday, a big
anthological display was opened in Palazzo Strozzi at Florence.
He
died on his birthday, in 2000, at Pollença.
Note 2) The following auction
records regarding Sassu sales warrant the conclusion that the presale estimate
of $20,000-$35,000 is reasonable and justifiable.
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Title/Subject: Tre Cavallini Sul Mar, 1960
Signed and dated. Oil on canvas. 19 5/8 in. x 23 7/8 in. sold for $23,254 on
5/21/2009 at Sotheby’s, Milan, Italy
Title/Subject: I Tre Cavalli Signed. Oil on
artist's board. 15 3/4 in. x 19 5/8 in. sold for $23,387 on 9/28/2008
at Meeting Art,
Vercelli VC, Italy |
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Title/Subject: I Due Cavalli Rossi Signed. Oil
on canvas. 19 5/8 in. x 23 5/8 in. sold for $20,268 on 5/22/2008 at Blindarte, Naples, Italy |
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