MILAN.- Sotheby’s announced the Modern & Contemporary Art Auction in Milan, which will take place on 26th and 27th November 2013. The sale will offer an oil and collage by Marino Marini - dated 1960 and estimated € 50 – 70.000 - as first lot. Marini recently set a record price in the 20th Century Italian Art Sale in London, where a gouache by the artist was sold for 116.000 €.

The sale will also feature a conceptual urban landscape by Mario Sironi, Periferia con Ciminiera, a tempera executed in 1924 (est. 70 – 90.000 EUR).

Notable among the works to be offered at Sotheby’s Milan is a group of ceramics by Lucio Fontana, which will surely attract the interest of collectors: Cavallo, executed in 1935/36 directly acquired by the artist in the same years, Crocifisso dated 1955 and Caminetto, a glazed ceramic estimated € 80 -120.000; in addition to that to that Concetto spaziale, a terracotta ‘egg’ dated 1958 (50 – 70.000 EUR).

Commenting on the sale, Raphaelle Blanga, Head of Modern and Contemporary Art Department, Sotheby’s Milan said: “The selection of the works that will be offered on 26th & 27th November has been made on quality and rarity criteria especially considering the international market trends and the collectors’ demand. This Milanese auction represents a unique opportunity to acquire masterworks coming from two distinguished private Italian Collections, that represent the most requested Italian artists”.

Coming from the USA Senza titolo (1952) by Alberto Burri, from the artist’s most celebrated series of works which discloses the forthcoming ‘Sacchi’ series.

In 1953, the painting was included in the first American Burri solo show in Chicago, at the Allan Frumkin Gallery; the lot is an oil, vinavil, sand, burlap and collage on canvas, and is expected to realise 250 – 350.000 euro.

Further highlights include two masterworks by Afro, Portorose (est. 180 – 250.00 EUR) and Composizione (est. 150 - 200.000 EUR). The first, dated 1963, comes from a Tokyo private conoisseur, whereas the second is part of a private Milanese collection.

Prominent among the masterpieces by Renato Guttuso is La Strada, the important 1956 painting which belongs to a group of works conceived in the second part of the 1950s, precisely from his Realismo esistenziale period.

The imposing work - formerly exhibited at Palazzo dei Diamanti in 1981 – is expected to realise € 100 – 150.000.

Emblematic paintings from the same period are kept in the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, Puškin Museum, Moscow and Palazzo della Pilotta, Parma.

Palo Alto (est. 150 – 200.000 EUR) by Mario Schifano, an enamel on canvas executed in 1960, is particularly appreciated by Italian and international collectors, due to the recent world auction record achieved in London for the painter (over € 369.000).

The Milanese auction offers a fine selection of works by Enrico Castellani - presently one of the most internationally requested Italian artist.

By the artist, Senza Titolo (est. 130 – 180.000 EUR), an evocative work executed in 1963. On the occasion of the Tokyo Imperial Premium in 2010, Castellani remembered that pivotal year, when the Japanese art crtitics – ahead of time - started appreciating his œuvre. The painting is dedicated to his beloved friend Toyofuku.

Superficie Bianca by Castellani (1965), estimated € 290.000 - 390.000, comes from the same fine collection which Palo Alto belongs to and was exhibited at GNAM, Rome in Cento Opere d’Arte Italiana dal Futurismo ad oggi (1968 – 69).

From the Santo Versace Collection: Mettersi in Mostra by Alighiero Boetti, two remarkable gouache on vertical canvas (cm 199x71, each) created for Gianni Versace (est. 80 – 120.000 EUR).

In the forthcoming sale are included several lots from the 1960s Avant-garde, such as Achrome by Piero Manzoni, dated 1962, a wrapped newspaper package (120 – 180.000 EUR), Concetto Spaziale, Attese (1964) a blue slash by Lucio Fontana, (420 – 600.000 EUR), Rosso by Agostino Bonalumi, executed in 1965 and estimated € 70 – 90.000 and Argento by Carla Accardi, an enamel on sicofoil dated 1969 (est. 50 – 70.000 EUR).

A further distinguished private collection includes two pieces by Dadamaino (the recent world auction record fetched € 123.000 in London), executed between the end of the 1960s and the 1971 are valuated 25 – 35.000 euro each.

Highlights of the collection include a Concetto Spaziale by Lucio Fontana an oil on canvas dated 1965. The work, a perfect symbiosis of form and substance, has been formerly exhibited in the Parisian Iris Clert Gallery.

In addition to that, works by Bonalumi, Paolini, Boetti, Pistoletto, Zorio, Calzolari, up to 2 Pumpkins by Yayoi Kusama, both dated 2000 and expected to realise € 15 - 25.000.