(Al-Chums 1934–1998 Rome)

Untitled (Particolare di propaganda). 1962/1970-1975.

Enamel and charcoal on paper laid on canvas.

Signed and dated lower right: Schifano 1962.

40 x 36 cm.

The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by Monica Schifano, Archivio Mario Schifano, Rome, 30 April 2018. It is recorded in the archive under the number: 03733180428. We thank the Archivio for their kind assistance.
Furthermore, the authenticity has been confirmed by the Fondazione Mario Schifano, Archivio Generale Dell'Opera di Mario Schifano, Rome, 16 February 2000. There it is recorded under the number: 75/22.

Provenance: Private collection Switzerland.

Literature: Fondazione M.S. Multistudio (ed.): Mario Schifano, Studio metodologico riguardante la catalogazione informatica dei dati relativi alle opere di Mario Schifano, Rome 2007, vol. A1, no. 75/022 (with ill.).

The Italian artist Mario Schifano, born in Homs (Libya) in 1934, is the most important representative of Pop Art in Europe.

After a difficult childhood, which was due especially to his explosive temperament, he discovered a love of art through his work at the Etruscan museum in Villa Giulia in Rome. In the 1950s, influenced by Informel and Minimal art, he began with monochrome works. In 1960 a decisive change occurred in his work when he began to use unusual materials and techniques. With a solo show in 1961 at La Tartaruga in Rome and participation in the New York exhibition "The New Realists" at the Sidney Janis gallery, Schifano came to the attention of international art critics. During his stays in New York, he met, amongst others, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, whose careers were then just gathering speed.

In many respects, we can see clear parallels with the American Pop artists. We should not forget, however, that they were all of the same age and were at the beginning of their artistic careers. They were very similar in their ideas, they drew on comparable experiences and supported each other in their artistic progress, yet developed their own formal and pictorial languages. Mario Schifano, in particular as a European, drew on a quite different art historical tradition and assessed and politicised mass consumption and its icons very differently from the American artists.

Schifano always worked in thematic series, but, unlike his colleagues from the US, for him this meant that he would repeat a theme, but the motif would be different, or he would alter it in some way.

The work offered here at auction belongs to the so-called “Propaganda”-series, characterised by its use of the lettering from Coca-Cola and Esso, which Schifano worked on in the 1960s and 70s. Both much-criticised global corporations were able to establish a typography as well as specific colour in association with their brand name, which is still valid today and has incredible recognition value.

Mario Schifano plays with this name, by showing only parts of it – in the work presented here we see “a-Co” -, and by distancing the work from the colour and typography of the original. In the present work, the letters are painted with a broad brushstroke, so that the precision of the original font is lost in the texture of the brushstroke; in addition, he sets the painted letters on a brownish background, creating a sketchy impression, which stands in total contrast to the perfection of the “Coca-Cola” name.

In this work Schifano reveals beautifully his affiliation to Pop Art, but the implementation is his own. Like his American counterparts, he refers to icons or well-known symbols, but creates a distancing effect, and unlike Warhol and Lichtenstein for example, lends them his own painterly quality. At the same time, he appears to caricature the well-planned and precise branding process.