Another painting by Giovanni Nicolai which picture was send 2 months ago. I received this and i was even a liitle scared by the subject. Nicolai wrote to me that it was inspired by Symbolist and nude art and he tried to incorparate this in this painting. I think he succeeded and i will continue to follow this italian artist with great interest. for more information on Giovanni Nicolia please refer to wilfriedvandenelshout@gmail.com
It is always a pleasure when Giovanni sends me some new pictures of his drawings and paintings. This time he mailed me that in Italy the great Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino is remembered and yes ….his art is probably also inspired by this great artist. For more information on Giovanni Nicolai mail me at wvdelshout@ziggo.nl
Here is a recent update on Giovanni Nicolai, as i understand he has several exhibitions coming up and as soon as i know the dates i will let you know, but first here are some photographs that i recently received from him. The flat one is the one he was working on a couple of weeks ago, but the one that surprised and fascinated me was this portrait.
For more information on Giovanni Nicolai do not hesitate to contact me ….and there are some nice draewings for sale at www.ftn.blog.com on the FTN art section.
I have added another painting by Giobanni to this post which he send me recently. here is the message he send me:
Hi Wilfred, I would like to attach some photos of my latest oil paintings on canvas, these photos could be useful to attach to the drawing previously sent, tell me what you think, a greeting from the magical Italy. the first horizontal painting with the female figure is entitled “Contessa Milano” 70X70 cm
This is to announce that FTN Art will represent Giovanni Nicolai with his art work.
From now on a selection of his art will be available in the FTN Art section of these pages. Feel free to contact me if you want more information. The start will be a series of affordable sketches at euro 150,–. Executed in different techniques with Crayon , pencil and paint on paper. If you desire information on his paintings please sent me a mail and i will propose you a selection of paintings currently available.
Those of you following this blog, know that i admire the art of Massimo Rao (1950-1996). Rao was during his life represented by Gallery Steltman and Steltman published in 1992 a special edition of their Massimo Rao publication. This book was published exactly the same as the non numbered edition, but with two large differences. First, there was a very special etching included and secondly the book was published with a beautiful bright red slipcase. The etching is a true masterpiece and when you look closely at the etching ( see the close up photograph) you see that Rao “paints” with an etching needle. This very nice copy will grace my personal library and will replace the Massimo Rao publication which i had and cherished until now. It is now available at www.ftn-books.com
My admiration for Gudmundsson started when i first saw his “paper boat” in an edition of only 20 copies. The reason i was attracted to this work was because the same boat was depicted in a painting by Massimo Rao and for years both works were combined in my living room.
Now i have only the boat nearby and it has not lost its appeal in 20+ years. The edition was bought after i had traded in a Pieter Laurens Mol which was not the right piece of art in the right place and so the Gudmundsson was bought to make the Rao more complete and it stayed in my collection. It has pure humor and because of its presentation in a show case it still has a lot of style. This edition is only 20 copies and it was bought at DE EXPEDITIE in Amsterdam and is of course sold out now for decades , but i know of a special edition of a unique life size large paper boat which is/was in the collection of the AMC Amsterdam which is even more unique than the smaller i have on my windowsill.
For some nice Gudmundsson publications please visit www.ftn-books.com
For those of you who remember the blog i wrote on a promising young Italian artist…. Giovanni Nicolai…and are interest in following his career, here are 2 articles in Italian magazines on the artist and his works.
http://www.corrierealtomilanese.com/2017/05/30/giovanni-nicolai-leleganza-del-tratto-e-poesia/
and
http://www.cagliariartmagazine.it/giovanni-nicolai-la-classe-e-arte/
Down under in Italy, in the region of Bari works a young artist by the name of Giovanni Nicolai. I did not know him, never met him, but we recently contacted each other about a purchase. He mailed me that he was a fan of Massimo Rao and because of this fascination was inspired by him which resulted in very personal and somehow typical italian classical portraits. He sent me some examples and i was very much convinced that these works deserve to be known outside Italy too. Therefore this blog with some examples of his works. It is Modern art with some abstraction but also a very classical touch within them.
The small faces of the portraits resemble a little bit the lean figures by Alberto Giacometti, but the atmosphere breathes Massimo Rao.
Not the surrealist setting of Massimo Rao, but recognizable poetic portraits. Very nice to look at and subtil in their execution. If you want more information on Giovanni Nicolai do not hesitate to contact me and i will gladly supply you with his email address. The publications on Massimo Rao are available at www.ftn-books.com
Just a simple title for a blog on a painter who had a very short career, but build a strong following of admirers. It was 2008 that i visited New York and entered the CFM gallery and spoke the owner Neil Zukerman about our art collections. I learned that he had bought the very first Rao i had owned and had traded it in for the much larger IL MARINAIO CHE AVEVA ALL ‘UOVO E OLIO.
The one i originally had in my collection, was still one of the favorite paintings of Mr. Zukerman, but the encounter of this passionate collector and the story on this small Massimo Rao painting i once owned, made the world look so very small. If he still has it….i do not know….., but in the meantime the painting in our collection is depicted in 3 Massimo Rao books and was on show at the Panorama Museum in 2004.
Since it has been quiet around Rao, no special exhibitions….. but a growing following and a special site on the painter who unfortunately died much too young ( 1950-1996), but left us so many great works of art. http://www.massimorao.it/massimo-rao/
The books i have on Rao are growing more popular each year and it looks like most are exported to the US. So my guess is the important collectors are in the US and not in Europe.
Maybe it is an idea to organize a large retrospective in the US?
wilfried
