Drawings

The drawings and sketches included in this section are part of a wider selection the artist prepared and gathered in an album entitled Mario Negri/“Appunti”. It is composed of many sketches (in pencil, fountain pen and ballpoint) made on paper or cardboard from 1963 to 1984, joined by two small etchings.
The two drawings in pencil on paper (10 x 10 cm) from 1981 belong to a sequence of eight which the sculptor organized in a matted series entitled Disegni per un’acquaforte 1980-1981 (Drawings for a Watercolor 1980-1981).

 

The studio archive contains a good number of drawings (made with various techniques) that have yet to be catalogued. They were shown for the first time in an exhibition held in Genoa in 1946, and many years later in the retrospective in Matera, 2001.

 

Indications on the drawings are found in the exhibition catalogues: Disegni dello scultore Mario Negri, Galleria Genova and L’Isola, text by Stefano Cairola, Genoa 1946; Mario Negri. Opere dal 1936 al 1987, ed. Giuseppe Appella, with text by Anna Finocchi (Mario Negri e la disciplina del disegno. Disegni 1936-1952), Matera 2001. The Catalogo generale delle sculture contains 14 drawings and sketches made from 1948 to 1970.

From Disegni per un’acquaforte 1980-1981. Pencil drawings, 10 x 10 cm. Signed at the bottom M.N. and dated 1981 on the back.

From Appunti (Notes)
1. Stele delle Emigranti (Stela of the Emigrants), fountain pen on paper, 8 x 10.8 cm. Signed M.N. 1965.
2. Quadrilatero (Quad), pencil sketch on paper, 6.5 x 12.9 cm. Signed M.N. 1978.
3. Pencil sketch on paper, 6.4 x 8.5 cm. Signed M.N. 1978.
4. Erma (Herm), pencil sketch on cardboard, 8.5 x 10.4 cm. Signed M.N. 1979.
5. Pencil sketch on cardboard, 5.9 x 10 cm. Signed M.N. 1980. Below, on the back, a card of Italo Valenti.
6. Ballpoint sketch on cardboard, 6.2 x 11.4 cm. Signed M.N. 1982. Below, its back.
7. Simulacro (Simulacrum), pencil sketch on cardboard, 4 x 9 cm. 1981. Below, its back.
8. Etching, 7 x 7.9 cm. 1980.
9. Pencil sketch on envelope, 3.8 x 4.9 cm. Dated 1980 on the back.