Roberto Marcello Iras Baldessari * (Innsbruck... Lot n° 31

(Innsbruck 1894–1965 Rome) Jour – donna in poltrona (Omaggio a Pablo Picasso), 1917 ca., monogrammed, oil on cardboard, 50 x 38 cm, framed This work is registered in the Archivio Unico per il Catalogo delle opere futuriste di Roberto Marcello Baldessari, Rovereto, curated by Prof. Maurizio Scudiero, under no. B17–73 and it is accompanied by a photo-certificate of authenticity (issued 16.01.2012). Provenance: Private Collection, Germany Sotheby’s, Milan, 25 May 2012, lot 204 European Private Collection As a number of works in the same vein confirm, in 1917 Baldessari was looking to Picasso with great interest and produced works with a “cubo-futurist” aesthetic, some of which (among the first in the series) were taken directly from Picasso’s (as in this case). It should be kept in mind that knowledge of Picasso’s work in Italy only dates back to the late 1940s. Baldessari, on the other hand, thanks to his German contacts (he was bilingual, born in Innsbruck) was aware of the developments of the European avant-garde as they were happening, studying and referencing them in his own work. Maurizio Scudiero Throughout his long artistic career Roberto Marcello Baldessari rarely executed sculptures. Today only three sculptures, all in wood, are known. Cavallo+Corsa+Città dated 1916 / 17 should be the first of these works executed by the artist.