Live Auction 11790Impressionist & Modern Works on Paper
Carlo Carrà (1881-1966)
Lot 221 PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE JAPANESE COLLECTION

Carlo Carrà (1881-1966)

Rapporto di un nottambulo

Closed3 February 2016

Price Realised

GBP 86,500

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Carlo Carrà (1881-1966)
Rapporto di un nottambulo
signed 'Carrà' (lower right)
pen and ink and pencil on paper
17 7/8 x 11 in. (37.7 x 27.8 cm.)
Drawn in Milan in 1914

Private collection, Bologna, by 1977.
Anonymous sale, Christie's, London, 4 December 1984, lot 208.
Private collection, California.
Anonymous sale, Sotheby's, New York, 10 December 1993, lot 15.
Private collection, Japan, by whom acquired at the above sale.

Specialist note

This lively example of concrete poetry features elements in Italian, English and French arranged - in Futurist fashion - like the spokes of a wheel. The Futurist mathematics in the lower left corner are particularly striking: '2 carabinieri, 2 strozzini, 11 ruffiani, 15 puttane, 7 imbecilli, 3 giornalisti italiani + 1 inglese, 1 pittore + 2 pederati. totale 44 notamboli Milano Centro'. The work also includes some typical Futurist sound play such as 'Contessa Prrrrrrrrr', 'MerrrrrrrDE' and 'Corriere della Seeeeraaaaa'.