
Untitled
Roberto Crippa's untitled oil on board presents a dense, centrifugal composition of spiraling black lines that radiate outward from a heavily worked central mass, evoking simultaneously the orbit of celestial bodies, the structure of an atomic nucleus, and the raw kinetic energy of gesture frozen in paint. The looping ellipses, rendered with confident, fluid strokes, expand in every direction across the warm ochre ground, their regularity disrupted just enough by slight variations in pressure and width to suggest the hand of a painter working in a state of concentrated physical momentum. Against this restless peripheral motion, the core of the composition darkens into near abstraction, its surface scratched, layered, and broken, with flashes of gold and cream emerging beneath the black like light escaping from within. A horizontal band of coral red passes through the right side of the composition, a coloristic interruption that grounds the otherwise monochromatic work and introduces a note of heat and urgency. Crippa, a central figure in the Italian Spazialismo movement alongside Lucio Fontana, developed his signature spiral imagery in the late 1940s and continued to refine it across decades, finding in the gyrating line a formal language that could speak to both cosmic scale and intimate bodily sensation. His spirals were never merely decorative. They carried a philosophical charge, positioning the painted surface as a field of energy rather than a window onto represented space. This work, measuring 38 by 58.5 centimeters on board, sits in an intimate format that amplifies rather than diminishes the visual intensity of the composition. The relatively small scale concentrates the viewer's attention and makes the density of mark-making feel even more insistent, as if the energy contained within the image is pressing against its own boundaries. For collectors, this work represents Crippa at a compelling intersection of personal gesture and theoretical ambition. The board support lends the surface a particular warmth and tactility that distinguishes it from his canvas works, and the survival of the red underlayer creates a conversation between color fields that adds unexpected chromatic complexity. Its condition reflects the honest materiality of mid-century Italian painting, and its compact dimensions make it both visually commanding and practically versatile within a domestic or institutional context. Works of this clarity and assurance from Crippa's mature practice appear with decreasing frequency on the market.
- Medium
- Oil on board
🔨 Auction Lot
Martini Studio d'Arte: Modern And Contemporary Art
June 10, 2026
Estimate: €2,000 to €3,000
Lot 180
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