ANSELMO BUCCI

ANSELMO BUCCI
(Fossombrone, 1887 ~ Monza, 1955)

Sketch for the family, 1920

Oil on canvas, 43×65 cm

Provenance: Marco Fossati collection (Eredi Bucci)

This "sketch", which has no subsequent confirmation in known works, is evidently attributable to an albeit limited "monumentalist" cycle by Bucci, where perhaps the encounter with Sironi's art is manifested and highlighted.
In this type of work, such as nè I males, now located in the Palazzo Comunale of Fossombrone, which measures five by two meters and which Bucci would have liked to present at the Venice Biennale at the debut of the Gruppo Novecento, the artist seems to play and also support the incipits of the friend/enemy Margherita Sarfatti, arriving at expressing relevant results. The hypertrophy of the man, the protagonist despite being described from behind, enhances the coloristic ability of Bucci, who builds the body of the entire painting with "sponging" of the brush which characterizes the material, which appears rough; the Ark emerges black from the midnight blue background, while the fire lit by the man illuminates, dirtying its contours and accentuating the chiaroscuro, the female figure and, to a lesser extent, the little one on the left.
Although it is a model of very small dimensions, the strength of the design, in itself very powerful, manages to make the work, as announced, monumental.