207 - Guelfo Bianchini, known as Guelfo (1937–1997)

Guelfo Bianchini, known as Guelfo (1937–1997) Figures 2, 1959 Etching on paper 18.7 x 26.6 cm (image size) Signature: “Guelfo” in pencil and engraved on the front Date: “59” in pencil on the front Other inscriptions: edition number “XX/LX” in pencil on the front Distinctive features: on the reverse, a label from the Cassa di Risparmio di Fabriano e Cupramontana with inventory references Provenance: Cassa di Risparmio di Fabriano e Cupramontana; Veneto Banca SpA in LCA Condition. Support: 80% (yellowed paper) Condition. Surface: 95% For direct WhatsApp assistance before and during the live auction: +39 346 12 999 80 // Direct assistance via WhatsApp before and during the auction: +39 346 12 999 80 Between 1957 and 1963, Guelfo lived in Rome and formed close relationships with Francalancia, Bartolini, De Chirico, and Cocteau. In 1961, he was invited by Oskar Kokoschka to the castle in Salzburg, where he met Manzù. He created the series of drawings “Journey to Austria” and portrayed Kokoschka, receiving in return from the Austrian artist the “Portrait of Guelfo – Velfen.” He met Marc Chagall, who gave him the drawing “Profile of Guelfo,” and on the Russian artist’s birthday, Guelfo presented him with “Chagall Ironico” (collection in Vence, France). Between 1965 and 1973, he made numerous trips to France, where he met Magnelli, Picasso, and Miró. Thanks to his friendship with George Visat, a Parisian publisher, he began collecting works on paper. Since 1957, his Studio dell’Orologio, located in the shadow of Borromini’s clock tower, has served as a meeting place and later as the headquarters for a gathering of eccentric enthusiasts of pataphysics (“the science of imaginary solutions,” which aims to study “what is added to metaphysics, extending thus as far beyond it as metaphysics extends beyond physics,” according to the definition by the French writer A. Jarry). He traveled to Berlin, Greece, and Paris, where he met Ernst, Tanning, Matta, Ray, and Bellmer. The latter two would create photographs and drawings for Guelfo. In ’71, he founded the “Giornale invisibile TIC biografici” and the Museo Internazionale l’Orologio. He met Buñuel, Hans Richter, and Masson, who portrayed him in a drawing. He met Hartung, who had been invited by his school, and Lam in Paris. In 1974, he traveled through the Netherlands, Denmark, and France. Guidi and Cagli drew portraits of him. In Paris, he met Dalí, who sketched his profile, and the Visat and Berggruen galleries exhibited his works. In 1977, Pericle Fazzini painted a portrait of him. In 1978, the International Museum of Modern Art – l’Orologio Association was founded in Fabriano, and Guelfo served as its president. Madame Arp donated Jean Arp’s work “Idol” as a symbol of Guelfo’s museum. In 1979, he became a central character in Franco Simongini’s novel “La torre dell’Orologio” (The Clock Tower). The segment “Guelfo and the Clock Tower” aired on the television series “Artisti d’oggi,” featuring a text by Giuliano Briganti, an interview by Sergio Pautasso, and music by Alvin Curran. The “Giornale Invisibile TIC (Biographical Logbook)” becomes visible and is published as a limited-edition art book: “TIC by Guelfo, or Whims on the Fly, Giorgio De Chirico, Guelfo and His Flying Friends,” printed in Rome by M. De Rossi, with the collaboration of De Chirico, Arp, Dalí, Fazzini, Guidi, Kokoschka, Manzù, Miró, Ray, Strazza, Turcato, and poems by Borges and others. The preparatory studies for a portrait of him by Riccardo Tommasi Ferroni date back to 1980. Angela Redini dedicated a television feature to him: “Guelfo on a Bicycle in the Baroque Courtyards of Rome.” In the final years of his life, he also devoted himself to creating stained-glass windows. Among his most prestigious works are those created between 1983 and 1997 for the Church of San Giuseppe Lavoratore in Fabriano. A significant collection of his works is housed at the Bruno Molajoli Civic Art Gallery in Fabriano, the city that is also home to the artist’s house-museum, where his collection is on display.