Collection: Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art

Collection-level records:

• Collection overview (Cornucopia)

  Fine Art Collection

  The Estorick Collection brings together important works created by Italian artists during the first half of the twentieth century and is Britain’s only gallery devoted to modern Italian art. It is best known for its core group of Futurist works. (Founded in 1909 by the poet F T Marinetti, Futurism remains Italy’s most significant contribution to 20th century European culture. Marinetti wanted to break with the oppressive weight of Italy’s cultural heritage and develop an aesthetic based on modern life and technology. He soon attracted the support of the young Milanese painters Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carr and Luigi Russolo, who extended his ideas to the visual arts; they were joined in 1910 by the painters Gino Severini and Giacomo Balla. The acknowledged Futurist masterpieces of the collection are drawn from this pioneering period (1909-16) and include Boccioni’s Modern Idol, Carr’s Leaving the Theatre, Russolo’s Music, Severini’s The Boulevard and Balla’s The Hand of the Violinist. Amongst other major artists in the collection are Amedeo Modigliani, who is represented by a fine series of drawings and the late oil portrait of Dr Franois Brabander; Giorgio de Chirico, founder of Metaphysical Art, who exerted a profound influence on the Surrealists, is represented by two important early works, Melanconia and The Revolt of the Sage. There is a large number of paintings and drawings by Mario Sironi and Massimo Campigli. Sironi was briefly affiliated with Futurism, but in the 1920s went on to become the leading artist of the Novecento movement during the Fascist era. Campigli’s painting was strongly influenced by Etruscan art. His painterly vision and friendship with Estorick means that his works hold a special place in the collection, as do those of Zoran Music, whose atmospheric landscapes were inspired by his travels in Italy and Dalmatia. Estorick also knew Giorgio Morandi during the early 1950s and the collection contains a series of still life and landscape etchings and drawings which span the artist’s entire career. A number of sculptors are also represented in the collection, including Medardo Rosso, whose wax and plaster sculpture Impressions of the Boulevard: Woman with a Veil (1893) is the earliest work on display. On the death of Rodin in 1917 Rosso was hailed as ‘the greatest living sculptor’ by the French writer and critic Apollinaire. The collection also contains works by Emilio Greco, Giacomo Manz and Marino Marini, the latter two artists being largely credited with bringing about the rebirth of Italian sculpture in the twentieth century.

  Subjects

  Futurism; Twentieth century; Fine Art

  Source: Cornucopia

  Date: Not known, but before 2015

  Licence: CC BY-NC