Friday 3 May 2024

Mario Sironi - part 3

Mario Sironi (1885-1961) was an Italian Modernist artist who was active as a painter, sculptor, illustrator, and designer. His typically somber paintings are characterised by massive, immobile forms. In 1922 he was one of the founding members of the Sette di Novecento in Milan and became the leading exponent of the Novecento italiano. Sironi was the chief political caricaturist and illustrator for Mussolini’s official press, Il Popolo d’Italia (1927–33) and La Rivista Illustrata del Popolo d’Italia (1934–39). He authored the influential Manifesto of Mural Painting in 1933. After World War II he returned to easel painting in a style consistent with the abstract Informel movement. In 1956 he was elected member of the Accademia di San Luca. Sironi died in Milan on 13 August 1961. 

For a more comprehensive biography see part 1, and for earlier works by Mario Sironi, see parts 1 & 2 also.


This is part 3 of a 5-part series on the works of Mario Sironi:


c1924 Man and Python (drawing for a political cartoon)
Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art, London

c1932 Study for a monumental work
tempera and mixed media on paper laid down on canvas
48.4 x 67.8 cm

1933 Poster of the V Triennale study
pencil on paper

1933 Poster of the V Triennale, Milan

1933 Work
tempera and mixed media on paper

c1933 Composition. Study for a monumental work
tempera and mixed media on paper 36 x 43.7 cm

1934-35 Leader on horseback
mixed media on paper 288 x 275.4 cm
Museo di arte moderna e contempotanea di Trento e Rovereto


c1934 Woman with spade
tempera on canvas 65 x 43 cm

1935 Italy between the Arts and Sciences

This mural (fresco) forms the backdrop to the stage in the Great Hall of Sapienza University of Rome. Combining elements of both classical and modernist art, the mural depicts a central figure of Italy portrayed as a goddess at war, flanked by allegorical figures representing the arts and sciences: Astronomy, Mineralogy, Botany, Geography, Architecture, Letters, Painting, and History.

The mural went through a series of changes due to its association with fascism. In 1950, the fresco was repainted, covering up fascist symbols. A restoration project in 2015 removed the overpainting, revealing the original iconography.


1935 Study for the fresco "Italy between the Arts and Sciences"
tempera on paper laid down on canvas 52.7 x 72.3 cm


1935 Study for the fresco "Italy between the Arts and Sciences"

Italy between the Arts and Sciences
fresco


1935 Winged Victory
 mixed media on paper laid on canvas 18.2 x 25 cm

c1935 Group of figures
pencil on paper
Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art, London

1936 The worker
mixed media on construction paper mounted on canvas
325 x 202 cm

1936-38 The Empire
mixed media on construction paper mounted on canvas
174 x 274 cm
Romana Sironi Collection, Rome

c1936 Five figures
tempera on canvas 45.1 x 60.3 cm
Tate Gallery, London

1937 Triumphal Arch
polychrome tempera on paper 30.6 x 22.7 cm

1938 Untitled
pencil and tempera on cardboard 47.6 x 38.7 cm

c1938 Environment study
 tempera and ink on paper 31.5 x 28.3 cm

c1938 Male bust
pencil on paper 37.1 x 25.3 cm

c1938 Seated man
pencil on paper 37 x 25.6 cm

c1938 Woman Sewing
pencil on paper 37.7 x 25.7 cm

1939 Alpino and boat
oil on paper 32 x 25 cm
Museo Maga, Gallarate, Italy

c1939 Composition with figure
tempera and mixed media on paper laid down on canvas
56.3 x 28.3 cm

c1939 Sketch for a project
 tempera on paper 14.8 x 17.4 cm

before 1940 Two figures
pencil on paper laid on canvas 28.5 x 41 cm

1940 Figure
tempera on paper laid on canvas 30 x 40 cm

1940 Landscape with church
pencil, black ink and black bold on paper 28 x 40 cm

1940 Monk's head
oil on canvas 31.1 x 22.9 cm
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA

1940 Mountains
oil on cardboard 27 x 34 cm

1940 Two soldiers and a female figure
tempera and pencil on paper 21 x 30.8 cm

1940-45 Two figures
pencil and crayon on wove paper laid on canvas 29 x 41 cm

1940-50 Figures
tempera on paper 32 x 23 cm

c1940 Composition with horse
tempera on cardboard 25 x 24.4 cm

1940c Landscape
oil on board 23 x 37.9 cm

c1940 Two studies for a figure from the relief "Il Popolo Italiano" from the Palazzo del Popolo d'Italia
 pencil on card 20.6 x 21 cm

early 1940s Landscape with trees and mountains
oil and tempera on paper laid on masonite 43.3 x 64.5 cm

late 1940s Mountain
oil on canvas 17.4 x 27.8 cm

1941 Composition with architectural friezes
mixed media on paper laid on canvas 46.7 x 54.2 cm

c1941 Multiplication
oil on canvas 56.2 x 80 cm Moma, New York

1942 Figure with a corpse
gouache on paper 26 x 41.4 cm

1942 The Dream
magazine illustration
mixed media on cardboard 23.3 x 28 cm

c1942 Composition with two figures
tempera and mixed media on cardboard 11.7 x 10 cm

c1943 Composition
pencil and cardboard on paper 34 x 48.5 cm

c1944 Reclining nude with tree
oil and tempera on paper laid on canvas

c1945 Mountains
tempera and mixed media on paper laid down on canvas
28.2 x 43.5 cm

1946-47 White Nude
 tempera BiancoMuseo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Varese VA, Italy

Wednesday 1 May 2024

Mario Sironi - part 2

Mario Sironi (1885-1961) was an Italian Modernist artist who was active as a painter, sculptor, illustrator, and designer. His typically somber paintings are characterised by massive, immobile forms. In 1922 he was one of the founding members of the Sette di Novecento in Milan and became the leading exponent of the Novecento italiano. Sironi was the chief political caricaturist and illustrator for Mussolini’s official press, Il Popolo d’Italia (1927–33) and La Rivista Illustrata del Popolo d’Italia (1934–39). He authored the influential Manifesto of Mural Painting in 1933. After World War II he returned to easel painting in a style consistent with the abstract Informel movement. In 1956 he was elected member of the Accademia di San Luca. Sironi died in Milan on 13 August 1961. 

For a more comprehensive biography, and for earlier works by Mario Sironi, see part 1 also.


This is part 2 of a 5-part series on the works of Mario Sironi: 


c1924 Urban Landscape
oil on paper mounted on board  27.7 x 40 cm
Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art, London

c1924 Urban Landscape with Railway Worker
oil on paper laid on board 54.4 x 51.7 cm

1925 Figure in Interior
pencil on paper 13.7 x 11 cm

1925 Study for an illustration of Massimo Bontempelli's short story "Oggi"
pencil on paper 13.1 x 11.8 cm

1925-26 Solitudine
oil on canvas 98 x 82 cm
National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome

c1925-30 Bust of a young boy
oil on canvas laid doen on cardboard 59 x 48 cm
Boschi di Stefano Home-Museum, Milan

c1925 Female figure and building
pencil and tempera on paper 25.1 x 22.4 cm

c1925 Figure
tempera and mixed media on paper 31.3 x 22.4 cm

c1925 Fisherman 
pencil on paper 30.5 x 24.5 cm

c1925 Sitting figure
 ink and diluted ink on paper laid on canvas 23 x 15 cm


1926 Head of a man and architecture
pencil and graphite on paper 16.3 x 12.6 cm

1926 Il Gigante dell' Aria (The Air Giant)

1926 Il Gigante dell' Aria (The Air Giant)

c1926-27 Houses and Bell Tower
tempera and mixed media on paper 19.3 x 21.8 cm

c1926 Composition with female figure
 pencil and tempera on paper laid down on canvas 24.5 x 18.6 cm

c1926 Figure
tempera on paper laid on cardboard 17.3 x 12.6 cm

c1926 Study for an illustration
tempera and mixed media on paper laid on canvas 50.4 x 35 cm

c1926 Study for an unfinished poster for the ‘Mostra del Novecento Italiano’ (Italian Twentieth Century Exhibition)
ink and diluted ink on paper 31.6 x 26 cm

c1926 Trees, figure and house
tempera on paper 18.8 x 21.6 cm

1927 Female Nude
mixed media on paper 44 x 33 cm

1927 Illustration of the novella "The puppets and Marilù" by Rodolfo Cazzaniga
tempera and mixed media on paper laid on canvas 24.6 x 34.7 cm

1927 The Family
oil on canvas 97 x 73 cm
Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali
(
Capitoline Superintendence of Cultural Heritage)

c1927 Figure
pencil on paper 27.7 x 20.6 cm

c1927 Head of a horse
pencil and gouache on cardboard 19.3 x 19.2 cm

c1927 Landscape with figure, tree, rocks and air balloon
pencil on paper 18.3 x 14.4 cm

c1927 Nude study
 pencil on paper laid down on canvas 26 x 18 cm

c1927 Urban landscape
oil on canvas 52 x 54.5 cm
Private Collection

1928 Landscape with houses
mixed media on paper laid on canvas 34.5 x 30.4 cm

1928 Study
tempera on paper 12 x 13 cm

1928 Paesaggio urbano (Urban landscape)
oil on masonite 40 x 58 cm
Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Turin

c1928-29 Study of a female nude
pencil on paper 23.7 x 19 cm

c1928 Mountains
oil on canvas 81.9 x 107.9 cm
Tate Gallery, London

c1928 Nude woman seen from the back
ink on paper 28.9 x 21 cm

1929 Sketch for the illustration 'Subscribe!' published in
'Il Popolo d'Italia'
tempera and mixed media on paper laid on canvas 44.4 x 29.4 cm

1929-30 Composition
tempera and mixed media on paper laid on canvas 24 x 22.5 cm

1930 Composition with landscape, tree and figures
pencil on paper 16.7 x 24.5 cm

1930 Study for monumental composition
pencil on paper 26.6 x 31.4 cm

c1930 Nude
pencil on paper

c1930 Portrait
oil on board 50 x 40 cm

late 1930s Mountain
tempera and pencil on paper

1931 Untitled (Man opening a Door)
Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art, London

c1931 Composition with figure
tempera on paper on cardboard 55.2 x 54.9 cm

1932 Exposicion de la  Revolucion Fascista
colour lithograph poster

1932 Original plate of the illustration of the novel "Sprechen sie deutsch" by Arrigo de Angelis
mixed media on cardboard 23.5 x 27.3 cm

c1932 Knight
India ink on paper 19 x 32.6 cm

1934 Edizione del Pomeriggio L'Ambrosiano
colour lithograph poster