LONDON.- The Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art, London is delighted to announce that its first crowd funding appeal has reached its £3,000 target and that the restoration of a Futurist masterpiece from the Collection will now go ahead. The restoration of Carlo Carrà’s Leaving the Theatre of 1910, from the Estorick’s permanent collection will take place during the week of 18th May. Visitors are invited to drop in and watch specialist restorer Ezio Buzzegoli who will spend up to a week working on the painting.

The funds were raised via www.nationalfundingscheme.org and through individual donations from visitors and Estorick members.

Estorick Collection Director, Roberta Cremoncini said: ‘We are so grateful to all our supporters who have so generously contributed to our appeal and we can now look forward to conserving this important and much-loved painting for generations to come. We look forward to welcoming our donors and visitors to the Estorick to witness the restoration first hand.’

Leaving the Theatre was displayed in the famous 1912 Futurist exhibition at the Bernheim-Jeune Gallery, Paris, being purchased by the banker Max Rothschild when the show travelled to London’s Sackville Gallery later that year. It passed into the Estorick Collection in late 1958. Over the years it has featured in many other landmark exhibitions, such as Futurismo & Futurismi (Venice: Palazzo Grassi, 1986), Italian Art in the 20th Century: Painting and Sculpture 1900-1988 (London: Royal Academy of Arts, 1989), Futurism (London: Tate Modern, 2009) and, most recently, Italian Futurism 1909-1944: Reconstructing the Universe (New York: Guggenheim Museum, 2014).

Since opening in 1998, the Estorick has established a reputation as a key venue for bringing Italian art to the British public through collection displays and temporary exhibitions in the six galleries of its Islington building.