Esmeralda III. 1960.
Oil on canvas.
Signed, dated, and titled on the reverse of the canvas, as well as inscribed with the work number “183,” presumably by a hand other than the artist’s. Stamped by Studio Piero Dorazio on the stretcher, there inscribed “183” by hand. 61 x 46.2 cm (24 x 18.1 in). [CH].



• With a multitude of diagonal, intersecting lines in a single color, Dorazio creates a fascinating, vibrant structure.
• Sensual and analytical: the numerous freehand, almost impasto lines stand in direct contrast to the simplicity of the pictorial idea and its strict, analytical logic.
• Part of a private collection in Berlin for 40 years.
• In the year of its creation, the artist participated in the XXX Biennale di Venezia with numerous works, and took part in documenta II in Kassel in 1959.
• In the 1950s and 1960s, Dorazio traveled to the United States on several occasions, where he met Robert Motherwell, Mark Rothko, and others, through whom he became acquainted with Abstract Expressionism and Color Field Painting.
• Between 1960 and 1969, the artist taught in the Department of Fine Arts at the renowned School of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania.
• In his painstakingly thought-out, painterly patterns from this creative phase, Dorazio found a very individual alternative to the gestural painting of the Abstract Expressionists.

PROVENANCE: Private collection, Berlin (acquired from the above in 1986).

LITERATURE: Brera Arte, Milan, Arte contemporanea. Per una collezione, October 28, 1986, lot 97.