12/12/2001
by Francesca Brambilla

Something is changing in the market for Osvaldo Licini (1894-1958). To date the artist has been chiefly appreciated by national collectors, but the painter from the Marche region is also gradually beginning to gather approval abroad, as witness his recent debut on the international market at the Italian Sale held in October at Christie's London, the auction given over to Italian 20^th century art.. On that occasion, the small oil on canvas Personaggio olandese volante (1945, 22 x 28 cm) was hammered at $ 35,750 (€ 39,960), below the estimated value, but a promising start nonetheless.

The artist, who attended the Academy in Bologna with Giorgio Morandi and Renzo Vespignani, met Picasso, Derain and Modigliani in Paris in 1917. Upon his return to Italy he began to focus on the characteristics that were to become distinctive of his poetry, constructed on archetypal and imaginary images. Following his abstract period covering the 1930s and 1940s and the "Angels" characterising his production during the Forties, Licini spent the following decade working on his "Amalassunte" - figures with faces defined by cabalistic numbers, among the rarest and most sought after works by the artist on the market. At auction, Amalassunte were only sold in the boom of the Nineties when a series of sales for his oils on canvas went through, including Amalassunta su fondo azzurro (23 x 31 cm) sold by Sotheby’s Milan in November 1990 for $ 87,750 (€ 98,120). That same year saw the sale of Amalassunta from 1955 (16.5 x 22 cm), hammered by Finarte Milan at $ 57,700 (€ 64,570), while the large (60 x 73 cm) Amalassunta from 1946, that differs from the usual size of the canvases by Licini, was sold for an excellent $ 235,500 (€ 263,400) on the 13^th of December 1990, again by Finarte Milan. On the national market, the estimates of the small oils that belong to the "Personaggi dell’infinito" or the "Personaggi volanti" series range between $ 32,300-50,800 (€ 36,150-56,800). An example is the recent price fetched in November 2000 by the oil on canvas Personaggio (19 x 24.5 cm) from 1944, sold by Finarte Milan for $ 35,540 (€ 39,500).

Quotes for the oils from the 1950s appear to be stable and on average range between $ 41,560-67,140 (€ 46,480-60,040), depending on subject and size. Of note here are the 1956 oil on paper Studio (ritmo blu) (22.5 x 21 cm), offered by Farsetti in Prato in November 2000 and sold for $ 67,140 (€ 60,040), and the 1955 oil on wood, Barca a vela (22 x 27.5 cm), bought in April 2000 for $ 46,190 (€ 51,650) at Finarte Milan. In April 1999 Finarte presented the 1954 oil Notturno (18 x 24 cm), that eventually sold $ 43,880 (€ 49,000). The very small works from the Fifties on the other hand range between $ 23,100 (€ 25,800), like for instance the oil on canvas Portafortuna (Merda) from 1953 (7 x 9 cm), auctioned by Finarte Milan this year on the 31^st of May for $ 22,400 (€ 25,000).

Licini is admired as a draftsman and his pencil on paper works that have most recently been put up for auction include three lots presented by Finarte Milan in December 2000 and one offered in November 1999 by Semenzato in Venice. The 3 lots auctioned by Finarte are: Angelo (cm 33 x 24) hammered at $ 6,000 (€ 6,700), Angelo Ribelle (24 x 32 cm) sold for $ 4,620 (€ 5,160) and Paesaggio Fantastico (27 x 23 cm), bought for $ 5,080 (€ 5,680). The drawing offered by Semenzato in Venice is Figure lunari (20 x 30 cm) hammered at $ 3,690 (€ 4,130). As in the case of the three previous examples, this particular drawing shows that Licini’s graphic qualities are particularly appreciated when they depict the artist’s typical iconography, angels and lunar figures.