Mattia Jona, Master Drawings and Prints, Japanese Prints - Piazzetta Guastalla 5, 20122 Milan, Italy, tel (+39) 02 8053315

MARIO SIRONI ( Tempio Pausania, Sassari, 1885 - Milan 1961) IN THE TRENCHES (1915)
Black ink and red tempera, over traces in pencil, on cardboard; 425 x 345 mm. PROVENANCE: Galleria Schettini, Milan. A preparatory drawing, showing the influence of Russian Futurism and Constructivism, for the postcard advertising the ‘Storia della guerra mondiale', published by the magazine ‘Gli Avvenimenti’ in July 1915. See: Fabio Benzi and Andrea Sironi, ‘Sironi illustratore, catalogo ragionato’, Rome, 1988; no. 81, pages 35 e 36.

Mario Sironi, painter, caricaturist, designer and muralist, was one of the most influential and technically skilled artist of 20th century in Italy. As a student he first specialized in mathematics and engineering, but then abandoned them for painting. Studying art in Rome he was involved in Futurism and Boccioni described him as an artist “who has embarked in a profound an highly original way on research into plastic dynamism”. After World War I, when he was attracted by metaphysical themes and imagery of the industrial world, his style embraced monumental and solid forms rendered in dark tones. Sironi was deeply involved in Fascism and he fashioned the regime’s image in both high and low art forms, from propaganda in the press to monumental mural projects. This identification with Fascism clouded critics’ assessment of his artwork for a long period.