Alberto Magnelli *
(Florence 1888–1971 Meudon)
Peinture D, c. 1935, inscribed and signed on the reverse by Susi Magnelli Peinture fait par Alberto Magnelli, 1935, oil on canvas, 81 x 100 cm, framed
Provenance:
Artist’s Collection
Galleria Sapone, Nice
Galleria La Loggia, Bologna (stamp and inscribed on the reverse)
European Private Collection

Exhibited:
Nice, Magnelli. Les Pierres: 1931–1935, Galerie Sapone, 9 July – 30 September 1981, exh. cat. p. 53 with ill.

Literature:
A. Maisonnier (ed.), Catalogue Raisonné-L’oeuvre peint, Societé Internationale d’Art XX siecle, Paris et Madame Susi Magnelli, 1975, p. 111, no. 439 with ill.

The Florentine artist Magnelli had already confidently embarked on the path of robust, formal monumentality at the point of creating 'Pietre' (Stones). He still, however, had to thoroughly investigate the means, the manner, and the way of achieving this result without falling into the trap of rhetoric and monumentalism.
Once again, the great Tuscan artistic tradition came to his aid: the spatial partitions of Piero della Francesca in the 'Legend of the Cross', the fantastic mountains of the Florentine frescoes and also, albeit to a lesser extent than previously, those of Masaccio. Thus what could have passed as vaguely metaphysical (the timing fits: just think of the contemporary works of Soldati and certain works by Prampolini who, not coincidentally, was an acute reviewer of Magnellli in 1934) instead held the aura of absolute rational construction so typical of the Italian 15th-century Renaissance.

M. Meneguzzo (ed.), Alberto Magnelli, Lorenzelli Arte Milano, pp. 6 – 7