
Untitled
This untitled mixed media and collage work on paper by Franco Angeli presents a densely layered visual field in which political symbolism, violence, and fragmented imagery collide against a luminous blue watercolor ground. At the compositional center, a wolf rendered in warm ochres and browns stands upon a gridded platform, blood dripping from its maw as it hovers over a smaller prone figure, evoking the ancient Roman myth of the she-wolf nursing Romulus and Remus while simultaneously subverting it into something predatory and unresolved. To the left, heart forms in red, purple, and grey drip downward from a geometric obelisk-like structure, their sentimental associations undercut by the visceral red that pools at their base. Overhead, a military aircraft rendered in flat grey and black cuts across the upper register, its silhouette pressing down upon the scene below with an unmistakable air of menace and institutional power. Angeli, a central figure in the Roman School of Piazza del Popolo alongside artists such as Mario Schifano and Tano Festa, consistently mined the iconography of postwar Italian culture, drawing upon ancient Roman symbols, Cold War anxieties, and the visual language of mass media. This work exemplifies his approach, weaving together references that span centuries while grounding them in an urgently contemporary sensibility. The collage elements introduce a tactile materiality that interrupts the fluid washes of watercolor, creating a tension between the gestural and the graphic that feels both spontaneous and rigorously considered. The red and black forms on the right side of the composition, suggestive of wings or flame, amplify the mythological undercurrent that runs throughout, linking the imagery to cycles of violence and renewal that preoccupied the artist throughout his career. At 70 by 100 centimeters, the work commands presence while retaining the intimacy of a work on paper. The sheet is signed by the artist in the lower right corner. It represents a compelling example of Angeli's ability to fuse the allegorical weight of Roman history with a raw, urgent pictorial energy, producing an image that resists easy resolution. For collectors interested in the Arte Povera generation and its broader Italian context, this work offers a rare and significant point of entry into Angeli's distinctive visual world, where beauty and brutality are never far apart.
- Medium
- Mixed media and collage on paper
🔨 Auction Lot
Martini Studio d'Arte: Modern And Contemporary Art
June 10, 2026
Estimate: €1,000 to €2,000
Lot 170
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