565 - Alberto Burri* (Città di Castello 1915 - 1995 Nice)

Alberto Burri* (Città di Castello 1915 - 1995 Nice) Bianchi e Neri II, 1969 lithograph, stencil printing and acetate collage/paper 28 x 52 cm signed Burri, numbered 25/90 SCHÄTZPREIS / ESTIMATE € 800 - 1600 STARTPREIS / STARTING PRICE € 800 Alberto Burri was born on March 12, 1915, in Città di Castello, Umbria. He studied medicine, completing his degree in 1940. During World War II, he served as a physician in the Italian army; taken prisoner by the British in 1943, he was sent to the Hereford prisoner-of-war camp in Texas. There, he began to paint and ultimately abandoned his medical career. Upon returning to Italy, he settled in Rome in 1946 and devoted himself exclusively to art. In the early 1950s, Burri developed his first characteristic works based on materials. In series such as Catrami (tars), Muffe (molds), Gobbi (humped works), and—above all—the Sacchi (sacks), he utilized jute sacks, cutting, sewing, and patching them while incorporating paint. Traces of use, damage, and repair were not concealed but rather became essential elements of the artistic expression. In doing so, Burri dissolved the traditional distinction between the picture support and the image itself, leading painting into a new dimension characterized by materiality and relief-like qualities. From the mid-1950s onwards, Burri worked with fire, heat, and deformation. In series such as Combustioni, Legni, Ferri, and Plastiche, he burned, melted, or welded materials including paper, wood, metal, and plastic. Fire appears here not as a destructive accident but as a precisely controlled artistic process that reorganizes surface, structure, color, and space. The 1970s saw the creation of the Cretti—works featuring crack-like surfaces—as well as the Cellotex series. In 1978, Burri established the Fondazione Palazzo Albizzini Collezione Burri in his hometown. One of his most significant late projects is the Grande Cretto in Gibellina, Sicily—a monumental, walk-through land art piece created over the ruins of the town, which had been destroyed by an earthquake in 1968. Alberto Burri died in Nice on February 13, 1995. PLEASE NOTE: The purchase price consists of the highest bid plus the buyer's premium, sales tax and, if applicable, the fee of artists resale rights and platform fee. In the case of normal taxation (marked ° at the estimate), a premium of 24% is added to the highest bid. The mandatory sales tax is added to the sum of the highest bid, the buyer's premium and platform fee. This amounts to 13% for paintings, drawings, graphic works and sculptures and 20% for photographs and all other items. The buyer's premium amounts to 28% in case of differential taxation. The sales tax is included in the differential taxation.