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15 - 15. 15AR CARLA ACCARDI (1924-2014) Arancio-blu 1961 signed a…
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Estimate €90,000 - €120,000
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Description
15. 15AR CARLA ACCARDI (1924-2014) Arancio-blu 1961 signed and dated 61; signed, dated 1961 and inscribed n.286 on reverse casein on canvas 80 x 100 cm. 31 1/2 x 39 3/8 in. This work is registered with the Archivio Accardi-Sanfilippo, Rome. A certificate signed by the artist will be given to the buyer. Provenance Galleria Edieuropa, Rome Carlina Galleria D'arte, Turin Private collection, Turin (acquired from the latter in 2011) Then by descent to the current owner Exhibition Turin, Carlina Galleria D'arte, Carla Accardi, accordi/accardi, 5 May - 25 June 2011, p. 27, illustrated in colour Bibliography Germano Celant, Carla Accardi: la vita delle forme = the life of forms, Milan 2011, p. 330, no. 1961 21, illustrated in colour (under the title Arancio-turchese Carla Accardi is one of the most influential figures in post-war abstract painting worldwide. Co-founder of the Forma 1 group (1947-1951), which spearheaded abstract art in Italy at the time, Accardi was in the vanguard of a generation of artists who rejected any link of continuity with figurative painting in favour of geometric form, colour, line and the sign as pure abstraction. His break with tradition extends to his practice itself, on the floor or on a table, never on an easel. "Instead of copying what I saw around me, I started making abstract paintings, with triangles, which I called Scomposizioni. It was really something new. I said to myself: Carla, now you have to do this because it's necessary. And I did it with conviction" (quoted in "A Conversation with Carla Accardi" by Stefano Chiodi, in Carla Accardi. Ed. by Isabella del Frato Rayburn and Gian Enzo Sperone, New York, 2004, online). An admirer of Klee, Kandinsky and Mondrian, Accardi was equally drawn to Matisse, whose approach to colour and sinuous brushstrokes proved an essential reference point. The luminosity of Arancio-blu echoes his Danse (1910) and the cut-out silhouettes of Nus Bleus (1952). Yet these influences have always been filtered through a deeply personal and rigorous working method: despite the natural fluidity of his compositions, the traces left by Accardi are far from spontaneous. His 'universe of signs' has been built up gradually, through structures that are continually repeated, re-examined, reproduced and developed, almost obsessively. But Accardi's segni create a language so immediate that you don't have to decipher it; you just have to feel it. The energy of colour bursts through the composition in optical patterns that evoke the power of instinctive gestures - calligraphic marks, circles and lines that energise presence and absence with hypnotic fervour. In Arancio-blu, this effect is further intensified by chromo-stereopsis: the optical illusion created by the juxtaposition of warm and cold tones, orange advancing while blue recedes. Painted in 1961, this work marks a turning point in Accardi's production: the transition from monochrome to colour. Bright, fluorescent hues were chosen for their intensity, bringing the same striking force as his earlier black-and-white compositions, while deepening his exploration of the relationship between interlocking positive and negative spaces. The use of casein - a milk protein-based paint - is particularly important, its high pigment density providing an intense, smooth and velvety finish that amplifies the visual impact of the work. For Accardi, colour and line have always been the means of deepening harmony: "for me, visual art is born of forms just as music is born of notes" (quoted in "A Conversation with Carla Accardi" by Stefano Chiodi, in Carla Accardi. Ed. by Isabella del Frato Rayburn and Gian Enzo Sperone, New York, 2004, online). Carla Accardi's works are included in some of the world's most important collections, including those of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, the Tate in London, the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna in Rome and the Museo d'Arte Contemporanea at Castello di Rivoli in Turin.
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About the sale Post-War & Contemporary Art including the Cluzel Collection
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Auction time 06/04/2026 at 4:00 PM
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