|
The sale of Alitalia’s collection, which took place on 8th December in the Roman venue of Finarte, ended with excellent results. About 300 people were present at Palazzo Patrizi, willing to buy works of contemporary art which used to be displayed on the Dc8 airliners and in the company’s offices in Rome, Milan, Paris and New York. Many of those who took part in the sale were eager to buy a “relic”, including some collaborators of the special commissioner of Alitalia Augusto Fantozzi. “The sale of the artistic heritage of what used to be the national airline is an act owed by the special administration because, having guaranteed the continuity of the air traffic service by handing it over to Cai, we have the task to sell all of the assets to satisfy those who have been affected by this disaster”, explained the lawyer Antonio Leozappa, a collaborator of Fantozzi.
An enthralling sale which auctioned 187 lots (4 left unsold), achieving a total sold equal to 1,200,000 euros.
An excellent result, although there was slight disappointment for the unsuccessful sale of Zeus partorito dal sole (Zeus born from the sun) by Gino Severini, the most highly quoted artist of the futurists. This large marvellous tempera, commissioned for Alitalia’s offices in Paris, was presented with an auction base of 300 thousand euros. The biddings were raised immediately four times by 10 thousand euros, but everything came to a halt when the offers stopped at 340 thousand euros. The painting was not sold because the estimate of its lowest sale value was 350 thousand euros, commented the auctioneer of the auction Georgia Bava, adding that the work will be put up for auction again in April (although according to the press release given by Finarte, some private negotiations are in progress).
Top lot of this session at Finarte was Concetto Spaziale executed by Lucio Fontana in 1961. The small and elegant painting, offered with an auction base price of 20 thousand euros, was sold for 48 thousand euros.
One of the highlights of Alitalia’s collection that was sold was Passaporto passaspesso by Piero Dorazio: an oil on canvas applied on panel dated from 1954, bought by a telephone buyer for 35 thousand euros. To follow, a still life by Gino Severini, sold for 29 thousand euros, a watercolour by Giorgio Morandi sold for 26 thousand euros and an untitled work by Mimmo Rotella for 25 thousand.
In line with predictions, the paintings by futurist authors played the lion’s part. Two paintings by Giacomo Balla were sold, one for 20 thousand euros and the other for 18 thousand euros, while two pieces by Enrico Prampolini sold for 20 thousand and 16 thousand euros.
The group of Roman artists from the Sixties catalysed the attention of collectors who contended for the rare Filtro by Francesco Lo Savio, for the composition Grigio-nero n.2 by Carla Accardi and for the beautiful blue graffiti by Achille Perilli. Important results also for the Venetian Emilio Vedova and Giuseppe Santomaso. Not bad for Il Gallo by Renato Guttuso, which sold for 5,500 euros, while one of the lithographs by Giorgio De Chirico was sold for 1,600 euros and the other two for 950 each.
However, the real surprise was the enthusiasm shown towards the many paintings by less renowned artists present in the catalogue, whose extraordinary results were certainly, to some extent, influenced by the audience’s explicit wish to buy at least one memento of the Italian national airline.
|
Loading ...