Aligi Sassu - The horses of the sun

The depiction of animals in art has ancient origins, even appearing in primitive cave paintings. For religious reasons, various types of animals appear in the works of various ancient civilizations. It was especially in the Middle Ages, within the International Gothic style, that animal depictions became widespread as true life portraits, both within works of art and in notebooks of drawings and sketches. The presence of animals as subjects in art remained constant until the contemporary era. Much of Aligi Sassu's production, especially his graphic works, focuses on the figure of the horse. A noble animal, a symbol of beauty and harmony, the horse has repeatedly been a prominent subject in the history of art. Since the fourteenth century, its presence has always been obligatory in battle scenes or equestrian monuments, and for painters, depicting it with anatomical precision and naturalistic rendering has always been a challenge.

In this small bas-relief sculpture, a static element by definition, we can appreciate how Aligi Sassu's research was geared toward the expression of dynamic and uncontrollable forces. The sculpture in question demonstrates the artist's interest in the synthesis of form. The subject undergoes a reduction of its features, and this operation is conducted in a rigorously expressionist manner. Indeed, the entire process of abstraction is conceived to create a curvilinear and sinuous compositional rhythm, an expression of a strong dynamism inseparable from Sassu's work. However, the exaltation of forms also prevails, both anatomical and those of the surrounding nature. In conclusion, one can observe how, alongside formal synthesis, a certain marked plasticism coexists: in short, Aligi Sassu's artistic practice combines a strongly classical conception, discernible not only in the choice of subjects but also in the plastic exaltation of anatomical beauty, along with a contemporary sensibility, in the expressive strength and dynamism of his compositions.

Aligi Sassu, born in Milan in 1912 and died in 2000, was a painter and sculptor. His painting focused primarily on the representation of movement and physical strength, which is why the subject of a man on horseback was always congenial to him. In the late 1970s, he and Bruno Munari drafted the pictorial manifesto "Dynamism and Muscular Reform," which called for a return to anti-naturalistic forms in a dynamic sense. Much of his painting, moreover, is inspired by Delacroix and his struggles.

The transaction takes place with maximum security for both the seller and the buyer. We take care of the conformity (provenance, authenticity, state of conservation) of the work and handle the shipping.
Returns are possible no later than 14 days after receiving the order.