“Sabbia”, by Alberto Burri, is situated within one of the most decisive phases of the artist’s research, namely when he radically redefines the very meaning of painting. In these years, in fact, the surface is no longer a place of representation but becomes a field of action. A real space in which matter assumes both structural and conceptual value. Sand is not an addition: thus it is construction, weight, sedimented time.
Moreover, created in 1952, the work also belongs to the founding nucleus of Burri’s Informal season, in close relation with the Muffe, the Catrami and the first Sacchi. These are works that mark a clear break with the figurative tradition and that place Burri at the center of the European debate of the postwar period. In this historical context, marked by the material and moral ruins of the conflict, his painting does not describe the wound: it makes it explicitly visible through matter itself.
The composition is built on a particularly tense balance between red and black fields, interrupted by abraded and stratified areas. The surface appears compact but at the same time unstable, crossed by contrasts that generate a strong material presence. Nothing is decorative, but everything is necessary. In this way, “Sabbia” clearly testifies to the moment in which Alberto Burri affirms an autonomous language, destined to profoundly influence international art of the second half of the twentieth century.
Description: Mixed media on canvas, oil, sand on canvas (fabric, jute, canvas, oil and vinavil), signed and dated on the reverse “Burri 52”, bears on the reverse a label of the Galleria Marescalchi with author, title, technique, measurements, year, H cm 55×83
Provenance: Private collection Mr. and Mrs. Walter Bareiss – Greenwich Connecticut; Private collection – Florence; Important private collection – Bologna.
Notes: Work accompanied by a certificate of authenticity on photograph from the Galleria Marescalchi – Bologna.
Publications: Fondazione Palazzo Albizzini, “Burri, Contributo al catalogo Sistematico”, Ed. Petruzzi, Città di Castello, 1990, p. 33, no. 98; M. Calvesi, “Alberto Burri”, Ed. Fratelli Fabbri, Milan, 1971, p. 9; C. Brandi, “Burri”, Ed. Editalia, Rome, 1963, Pl. 10; F. Meyer, “Stain and Matter: Fautrier, Wols, Dubuffet, Burri, Tapies”, in “Modern Art”, no. 105, Ed. Fratelli Fabbri, Milan, 1967, Vol. 36, p. 221; Russoli 1975, p. 146 ill.
Hammer Price: N.C.
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