Emilio PETTORUTI (1892-1971) - Lot 176

Emilio PETTORUTI (1892-1971) Lake Como, circa 1917 Oil on canvas signed lower left. Signed and titled on the back. Dedicated "To Ricardo Saenz Hayes" on the back. 46.5 x 38 cm Provenance: Biarritz, private collection. Comparative bibliography: Fundación Pettoruti, Emilio Pettoruti; Catalogue Raisonné de l'artiste, Buenos Aires, Salas Nacionales de Exposicion, June/July 1995, unpaginated, Refs CR n° 94, 96, 106, 107, 108. The parallels between Cubism and the painting of Argentine artist Emilio Pettoruti are obvious. Like many artists of his generation, Europe embodied for the latter the fertile ground of learning, inspiration and Modernity. Settling in Florence in 1913 - aged just 21 - the artist soon came into contact with the Italian avant-garde of Giacomo Balla, Umberto Boccioni and Carlo Carrá. His early works - and his sketches - bear witness to an assimilation of the principles of modern art, but also to an attempt to adapt them to a specifically Argentinean vision. The Lake Como series, which comprises almost five works in different media, perfectly encapsulates this experience. From broad flat tints to pointillist suggestion, his painting combines a "slightly decorative vision with an entirely metaphysical sense, with angles and deep perspectives that generate the unusual and the bewildering", as Jacques Lassaigne pointed out during the artist's retrospective at Galerie Charpentier. By comparing our work with those listed in the Catalogue Raisonné, we can date this composition to 1917. At this time, the first Florentine and Milanese exhibitions were enjoying growing success. This success opened the doors, in 1923, to the historic Der Sturm gallery in Berlin. Here, he would share the stage with the likes of Paul Klee, Albert Gleizes, Louis Marcoussis and László Moholy-Nagy. Lago de Como I, the Cubist version of our painting, will be on show, foreshadowing the role of light in the young painter's work and reinforcing the importance of this canvas on the art market. More than a simple trip to Europe, traditional for Argentinians, this stay was essential for Pettoruti, and our work perfectly symbolizes this "pioneering" period for the artist. His return to Argentina in 1924 established him as a new master of modern art.