(Rome 1900–1972)
“Superficie 718”, titled, dated 1950–51 on the reverse, oil on canvas, 60 x 92.5 cm, framed, (PP)

Photo certificate:
Guglielmo Capogrossi, Rome, 30 March, 2000, archive no. AC/056/OT and stamped Galleria Arte Centro, Milan

Provenance:
Galleria l’Isola, Rome (label on the reverse)
Galleria Arte Centro Milan (label on the reverse and stamped)
Private Collection, Italy

Literature:
Guglielmo Capogrossi, Seconda parte del catalogo delle opere di Capogrossi, Edizioni del Naviglio 1974,
no. 11 with ill.

After his figurative beginnings, when critics assigned Capogrossi to the Roman School and tonal painting, in 1951 the artist participated in the creation of the Roman group known as “Origine” (Origin) and, in 1952, he joined the Spatialist group in Milan. He abandoned any reference to the objective world and, from this point onwards, created a space that he consciously represented with a sign (the so-called ‘fork-shaped signs’). Almost archetypal in its simplicity, this sign is always recognisable and yet shown in innumerable variations and taking on new values.
Superficie 718, with its swirling structure of “fork-shaped signs”, is one of the first examples of Capogrossi’s transition from figurative to abstract art. As such, it is of great art historical relevance as a witness to the painter’s artistic development.

“Initially, I used natural features, analogies or affinities, derived from the visible world. Then I directly tried to express the feeling of space within me and which I sensed in performing the gestures of every day life.”
(Giuseppe Capogrossi)