Hauser & Wirth and Moretti Fine Art at Frieze Masters 2015

Hauser & Wirth in collaboration with

Moretti Fine Art

Frieze Masters 2015 Booth D1 14 – 18 October 2015 Regent’s Park, London

Moretti Fine Art in collaboration with

Hauser & Wirth

detail

Introduction On the occasion of Frieze Masters 2015, Hauser & Wirth and Moretti Fine Art are pleased to announce that they will present a collaborative booth, revealing the essence of an ideal collection by drawing together works spanning centuries, with 14th-century Italian panels presented alongside the likes of Hans Arp, Louise Bourgeois, Henry Moore and Francis Picabia.

This unique conceptual presentation seeks to dissolve the reductive boundaries of genre. In this way, the collaboration between both galleries echoes the spirit of Frieze Masters – appealing to an eclectic art lover who embraces art from any period and on all levels.

The selection of paintings and sculptures from Moretti Fine Art is representative of

the finest European art between 14thand 18th-century. Highly decorative and rich in symbolism, these masterworks from names such as Andrea della Robbia (1435 – 1525) and Bernardo Bellotto (1721 – 1780) include luminous gold-ground panel paintings, classical marble reliefs and terracotta statues.

The modern and contemporary works shown by Hauser & Wirth complement the Italian Old Masters; the entire presentation is united by themes of spirituality, maternal relationships, human sacrifice, nature and contemplation of man’s existence. In many cases, abstraction emerges as the passage to a modern definition of the sublime – in the reduction of form and exploration of shape, colour and line, these artists seek to evoke a strong emotional, even quasireligious, experience.

Opposite: Andrea da Bologna, also called Andrea de Bruni or Andrea de Bartoli, active ca. 1340 – 1377, Saint Mark (detail) Previous page: Fausto Melotti, Domino (detail), 1970

Louise Bourgeois Nature Study, 1984 – 1996 Gold porcelain 71.8 x 41.3 x 30.5 cm / 28 1/4 x 16 1/4 x 12 in

Luca di Tommè (Siena, active 1356 – 1389) Madonna and Child with Christ Blessing Tempera on panel 174 x 77 cm

Henry Moore Madonna and Child, 1943 Terracotta 14.5 x 7.5 x 7.8 cm / 5 3/4 x 3 x 3 1/8 in incl. plinth: 15.5 x 10.2 x 10.2 cm

Henry Moore’s terracotta model ‘Madonna and Child’ (1943) was created ahead of a series of bronze maquettes that the artist worked on to fulfil a commission for the Vicar of the Church of St Matthew, Northampton.

Distinct references to religious art of the Renaissance are offset by naturalistic form – the solid yet fluid interweaving arms and legs of the figures highlight the familial bond between them – they are mother and child as much as Madonna and child. In this way Moore carefully balanced his secular interests with Christian tradition and produced a work that is both modern and steeped in history.

Giovanni di Ser Giovanni di Simone, called Lo Scheggia (San Giovanni Valdarno, 1407 – Florence, 1486) Story of Susannah Tempera on panel, 152 x 42.5 cm

Fausto Melotti Il colore della notte (The colour of the night), 1974 Brass, painted fabric 190 x 71 x 55 cm / 74 3/4 x 28 x 21 5/8 in

Fausto Melotti found a sublime harmony in the principles of geometry, mathematics and musical structure. In the 1960s, the artist developed a sculptural language made of delicate threads and thin sheets of brass, iron and gold. ‘Il colore della notte’ (The colour of the night) (1974) followed this transformational period. Adding the classical components of rhythm, order and harmony to the minimalist, conceptual reality of sculpture, the work exemplifies Melotti’s newfound vision of delicately wrought, almost fragile constructions, enriched by a new narrative that is at once dream-like, symbolic and poetic.

Allan Kaprow Red Figure with Cage, 1956 Oil on canvas 177.8 x 123.2 cm / 70 x 48 1/2 in

Simone di Filippo Benvenuti, known as Simone dei Crocifissi (Bologna, documented from 1354 – died 1399) Virgin and Child between Saints John the Baptist and Bartholomew, Archangel Gabriel, Saint Petronius, Saint Christopher and Saint Anthony; Virgin Annunciate, Saint Jerome, a Bishop Saint (Ambrose?) and Saint Florian Tempera on panel Central; 25 x 49.5 cm Wings; 13 x 49.5 cm

Richard Serra Untitled, 1978 Corten steel equilateral triangle 335 cm /132 in length of each side of the triangle; depth 0.6 cm / 1/4 in

Richard Serra’s monumental triangle ‘Untitled’ (1978) encapsulates the artist’s minimalist practice and reflects his preoccupation with the possibilities of architectural space.

In using the medium of corten steel to create a flat wall-work of pure equilateral proportions, Serra reinterprets the relationship between an artwork and its environment – making both distinct to the spectator.

The result is a powerful manifestation of the collision between matter and space, and the divine order of minimalism.

Bartolomeo Vivarini (Venice, active 1440 – after 1500) Madonna and the Sleeping Child Tempera on panel 50.8 x 38.1 cm

Born into one of the most influential families of Venetian painters, Bartolomeo Vivarini (ca. 1432 – 1499) is celebrated for his carefully composed, detailed and highly finished compositions. The ‘Madonna and Sleeping Child’, seen in a winding river landscape against a glowing gold background, is painted with a richness of colour and sharp perspective, which characterises the artist’s finest manner.

Agnes Martin Untitled, 1977 Watercolour, graphite and ink on paper 22.86 x 22.86 cm / 9 x 9 in

Master of Staffolo (Fabriano, documented 1417 – 1459) Madonna and Child with Saint Bernadino of Siena Tempera and panel 55 x 37 cm

Hermann Nitsch Untitled, 1960 Multicoloured wax, chalk and lipstick on hardboard 58.5 x 47.5 x 4.5 cm / 23 x 18 3/4 x 1 3/4 in

Much of Hermann Nitsch’s work of the 1960s aspired to the most intense experiences, embracing Dionysian excess, but also profound contemplation and transcendence. Calling to mind associations to the human body, the intestines, the vulva and the blood, ‘Untitled’ (1960) speaks to invocations of ancient myths and religious sacrifice.

Nitsch allowed molten streaming wax to drip and congeal, creating shapes evocative of human orifices, linking the body with metaphysical histories such as the blinding of Oedipus, or the crucifixion and sacrificial death of Christ.

Marlene Dumas Magdalena (de pelsje) (Magdalene (The Little Fur)), 1996 Ink on paper 125 x 69.5 cm / 49 1/4 x 27 3/8 in

‘Magdalena (de pelsje)’ (Magdalene (The Little Fur)) (1996) forms part of Marlene Dumas’ series based on the biblical character of Mary Magdalene.

Dumas’ Magdalena takes centrestage, exposed against a stark white background. Stripped of any context, she appears like a ghostly beacon, a symbol of lust and power that is both seductive and yet ultimately untouchable. Born in a moment of fleeting physical encounter between the artist and the paper, hovering on the edge of abstraction with their liquefied colours still bleeding across the page, these apparitions are ethereal records of the artist’s touch.

Andrea della Robbia (Florence, 1435 – 1525) Formella with Heraldic Arms Glazed Polychrome Terracotta 35 x 36 x 4 cm

The ‘Formella with Heraldic Arms’ by Andrea della Robbia (1453 – 1525) is an extremely well preserved example of the glazed terracotta reliefs created in Florence during the Renaissance.

Andrea’s technical brilliance in producing such objects, exemplified here by a fine sculptural quality and liveliness of colour, demonstrates his distinctive artistic personality within the prolific Della Robbia workshop.

Fausto Melotti Domino, 1970 Painted clay, plastic, brass 35.3 x 53 x 6.7 cm / 13 7/8 x 20 7/8 x 2 5/8 in

Santi Buglioni (Florence, 1494 – 1576) Young man holding a book Glazed terracotta Height: 132 cm

Louise Bourgeois Quarantania III, 1949 Bronze and stainless steel 151.1 x 37.5 x 34.9 cm / 59 1/2 x 14 3/4 x 13 3/4 in, incl. steel plinth

For Louise Bourgeois, the process of making art was a means of transmitting and expelling emotion into her artistic materials, a form of cathartic sublimation. Birth, motherhood, sexuality and human relationships, specifically the life-changing experience of childbirth and the fragile emergence of new life, were themes that preoccupied Bourgeois for many years. ‘Quarantania III’ (1949) is part of Bourgeois’s series of Personnages sculptures.

Presented in a group, the geometric figures translate an existential anxiety at the limitations of human and familial communication. These life size effigies are, despite the simplicity of the forms that have been used to conjure them, personalities, and as such are deeply personal facets of Bourgeois’s experience as a mother and her wider personal relationships.

Master of the Piccolomini Madonna, also called Master of Pius II (Tuscan sculptor active in Rome, ca. 1450 – 1475) Madonna and Child Marble 121.9 x 78.7 cm

Preserved in excellent condition, the relief of the ‘Madonna and Child’ is one of a series of nine versions in marble which repeat the same central motif and which have been grouped around a single artist, now referred to as the ‘Master of the Piccolomini Madonna’ (ca. 1450 – 1475).

Perhaps deriving from a lost original by Donatello, the sculptures – with variants in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and in the Musée du Louvre in Paris – are generally assumed to have been carved in Siena.

Hans Arp Hurlou sur Socle-colonne Bronze: 1951 / 1956; Wood and granite: 1964 – 65 Bronze, polished gold patina; black granite and carved wood Sculpture: 50 x 19 x 21 cm / 19 5/8 x 7 1/2 x 8 1/4 in Plinth: 46 x 31 x 31 cm / 18 1/8 x 12 1/4 x 12 1/4 in Overall: 96 x 50 x 52 cm / 37 3/4 x 19 5/8 x 20 1/2 in

Hans Arp’s ‘Hurlou sur Soclecolonne’ (1951 – 1964) is a seminal example of Arp’s approach to sculpture in his later period, revealing an exploration of form through a sensual language of opposites – solid and void, presence and emptiness, human and nature. The sculpture is a singular, organic form that both draws on and transcends sculptural abstraction and the history of art, becoming autonomous and placeless, freed from commissions with an intrinsic beauty of its own.

Fernand Léger Le Linge qui Sèche, 1947 Oil on Canvas 92 x 73 cm / 36 1/4 x 28 3/4 in

Andrea da Bologna, also called Andrea de Bruni or Andrea de Bartoli (Bologna and the Marches, active ca. 1340 – 1377) Saint Mark Tempera on panel 48 x 34 cm

Francis Picabia Femme nue avec statue, 1937 Oil on canvas 59.6 x 73 cm / 23 1/2 x 28 3/4 in

‘Femme nue avec statue’ (1937) is a sombre contemplation of the human condition. A totemic sculptural figure looms next to a classical female nude, and is the subject of her gaze, reflective of the contemporary fixation with primitivism as an attempt to decipher the essence of life and art. This belongs to a series of naturalistic paintings that immediately followed Picabia’s seminal series of Transparencies.

In this new style, the aesthetic refinement of the Transparencies was succeeded by a direct, poster-like brutalism that sought to achieve great power of expression through a simplification of subject and form. Picabia’s application of a faux antique glaze and craquelure surfaces draws attention to the contrast between his primitive subject matter and that of Old Master works that traditionally employed this technique.

All works for sale Prices available upon request

Copyright and Courtesy Information Hauser & Wirth Unless otherwise stated, all images: © the artist Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth p. 6 © The Easton Foundation, Licensed by DACS p. 22 © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / Bildrecht, Vienna p. 31 © The Easton Foundation, Licensed by DACS Photo: Christopher Burke p. 38 © ADAGP, Paris and DACS London 2015 Moretti Fine Art All images: Courtesy Moretti Fine Art

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