Hercules Barsotti (1914-2010) - Sem titulo

Hércules Barsotti: Object (1964)
A mixed-media relief object on cardboard, mounted on a wooden frame and published by Edition Panderma, Basel, in 1964. The cardboard element measures 19 × 19 × 4 cm and is set on a 23 × 23 × 4.5 cm wooden support. Hand-monogramed in ballpoint pen. In mint archival condition. The relief-object format — a constructed surface that pushes painting off the wall and into real space — lies at the very heart of the Neo-Concrete project.
Hércules Barsotti (1914–2010) was a Brazilian painter, graphic designer, scenographer and costume designer and a member of the Neo-Concrete movement. He worked for decades alongside his lifelong partner Willys de Castro, himself a pioneer and co-founder of Neo-Concretism, the two forming one of the defining creative alliances of post-war Brazilian abstraction. In 1963, together with Willys de Castro, Lothar Charoux, Waldemar Cordeiro, Lygia Clark, Luiz Sacilotto and others, Barsotti was among the founders of the São Paulo gallery Associação de Artes Visuais Novas Tendências, which operated until 1965. The gallery was founded and run by artists working within the Concrete and Neo-Concrete movements but was conceived as an open platform for contemporary art beyond the confines of any single tendency.
The market for Brazilian Neo-Concretism ranks today among the most sought-after and highly valued chapters of post-war abstraction. Its leading figures hold full international museum status and command strong results at auction: Lygia Clark's relief Contra Relevo (Objeto N. 7) realised USD 2.2 million at Phillips New York, with several of her Bicho sculptures passing the million-dollar threshold, while Hélio Oiticica set an auction record of USD 615,000 at Phillips New York in 2017. Works by these artists are held by the Museum of Modern Art, Tate, the Centre Pompidou and the Museo Reina Sofía, and have been honoured with major retrospectives at MoMA and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Signed Neo-Concrete objects from the early 1960s — the moment of the present work — belong squarely to this rising and internationally collected field.
Provenance:
Edition Panderma, Carl Laszlo, Basel
Galerie von Bartha, Basel
Private collection, Basel
Year: 1964 (published)
Technique: Mixed media on cardboard, mounted on wooden frame
Signature: Hand-signed in ballpoint pen
Dimensions: 19 × 19 × 4 cm (object) on 23 × 23 × 4.5 cm wooden frame
Condition: Mint, archival
Provenance: Edition Panderma / Carl Laszlo, Basel — Galerie von Bartha, Basel — Private collection, Basel