The Italian auction house Wannenes, based in Milan, is holding its ‘Modern and Contemporary Art’ sale on 20 May. Within the catalogue, many wonders spring to the forefront, including the intense portraits of Osvaldo and Annetta Pardo by Giacomo Balla, from 1905 and 1906 respectively.
The two portraits date from the Turn artist's creative period in which he dealt with the techniques of post-impressionism, before becoming one of the leading exponents of futurism.
Balla portrayed Osvaldo Pardo while at the same time working on the painting Lettura della mamma, which was intended for the Amatori e Cultori exhibition in 1906. Erica Balla, the artist's daughter, recalled: "In 1906, when [Balla] was visiting his friend Osvaldo Pardo, he saw [Pardo’s] wife near the window, her beautiful, sweet face half in shadow, but reflected by the red damask that covered the window opening."
In those years, Osvaldo Pardo was a true supporter of Balla: the owner of a furniture shop in Tritone held an exhibition there dedicated to Balla in 1915 and commissioned two portraits of his wife Annetta from him. He also acquired some of Balla's paintings, including L'atrio di Villa Doria Pamphilj, La fanciulla di Anzio, La signorina Villa Borghese and a sketch Affetti.
With Boardwalk, the auction showcases an ingenious work by the Dadaist and Surrealist Man Ray, who conceived this game out of memories and coincidences in 1917. In 1973, it was made from wood, fabric, cords and buttons and published in nine copies
A separate mention should be made for a work by photographer and writer Peter Beard, called by some ‘Half Tarzan, half Byron’. Beard, who passed away in April 2020 at the age of 82, dedicated his life to protecting and documenting Africa's wildlife. In addition to being a photographer, Beard was above all a nomadic traveller who, from a young age, used diaries as a memory ‘in progress’ of his life as a citizen of the world.
Each work of Beard’s is a layering of a moment that he crystallised with passionate vitalism. In 1961, he met Karen Blixen in Denmark who had written Out of Africa and in 1962 he moved to the Hog Ranch in Kenya, near the house of this great Danish writer. In Wannenes’ sale is a gelatin silver print, part collage and blood, entitled I'll write whenever I can, Koobi Flora Lake Rudolf, Kenya, in which the emotions that wild nature unleashed in Beard are conveyed to the viewer.
Finally, two works that represent the glamorous charm and bright and spectacular colours of the master of American Pop Art, Andy Warhol. The first is a 1975 colour serigraph with a circulation of 250 copies depicting the Rolling Stones frontman, Mick Jagger.
The other is a screen print by Warhol made ten years later on a plaque in the Lenox Museum, which shows a bottle of the perfume Chanel No. 5.
All works presented, and more, will be auctioned on 20 May at Wannenes in Milan. Until then, you can discover the entire catalogue online.