Loretta Surico (1942) - Mujer

Original drawing in mixed technique on paper support, executed in vertical format with dimensions of 40 centimeters in width by 49 centimeters in height. The piece is signed and hand-dated in pencil at the lower area by the artist Loretta Surico, explicitly bearing the year 1979. The support shows localized physical imperfections, specifically cuts along the lower margin and the corners, in addition to some scattered stains caused by the passage of time. Despite these perimeter deteriorations, the overall state of conservation of the work is good, maintaining legibility and allowing the composition to be appreciated in its entirety without distortions. Visually, the work stands out for its use of textures and powdery pigments in blue tones that coexist with the linear strokes of the drawing, characteristic of material experimentation from the late seventies.

Original drawing in mixed technique on paper support, executed in vertical format with dimensions of 40 centimeters in width by 49 centimeters in height. The piece shows the portrait of a face with a melancholic or introspective gaze, the head slightly resting on one hand. The features are defined through soft, graphite pencil strokes that are smoothed and contrasted with an abstract background of expressive and impasto brushstrokes, resolved in a palette of blues, violets, ochers and greens. The signature and handwritten date by the artist Loretta Surico are explicitly inscribed in pencil on the right-hand side of the drawing with the year 1979. The paper support presents localized physical imperfections, specifically cuts along the lower margin and the corners, in addition to some scattered stains caused by the passage of time and handling. Despite these perimeter deteriorations along the clean edges of the paper, the overall state of conservation of the work is good, maintaining legibility and allowing the artistic composition to be appreciated in its entirety without distortions.

Loretta Surico is a painter and multifaceted Italian contemporary artist born in Rome in 1942. Her career stands out for a deep academic formation and constant experimentation with different visual and scenographic disciplines.

Loretta Surico
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Education and early years
She initially trained at the Institute of Art of Rome, where she studied under renowned professors such as Alberto Zivieri, Katy Castellucci, and Piero Sadun. Later she refined her knowledge at the prestigious Academy of Fine Arts, being a direct pupil of Mario Mafai, a key figure of Italian Expressionism and the Roman School. During the sixties, she began to diversify her activity by collaborating on illustrations and graphic works for contemporary media, such as the Paese Sera newspaper and the Italian public television network RAI.

Loretta Surico
Consolidation and exhibitions (Period of the work)
The drawing you own, dated 1979, belongs to a crucial period in her career. Between 1975 and 1980, Surico established a steady annual presence on the Roman and Sicilian gallery scene, organizing recurring solo exhibitions in prominent spaces such as the I Volsci and Il Babuino galleries in Rome, the Folklore Museum of the Italian capital, or the Teatro del Vicolo in Palermo. Just in 1980, the artist presented one of her best-known series, titled Psicoanalisi Asciutta, composed of 31 portraits of poets where she demonstrated sharp psychological insight to capture the interior world of the subjects, an introspective inclination that is already evident in the 1979 mixed-media portrait you own.

Loretta Surico
Style, techniques and other disciplines
Figurative and literary approach: Her painting and drawing are characterized by a strong poetic and dramatic charge. Instead of full-body figures, Surico tends to prioritize the expressiveness of human faces and the shapes wrapped in emotional and introspective atmospheres. Often, her pictorial series have dialogued directly with literature, poetry, myth, and history, reinterpreting classical or universal themes in a contemporary way.

Diversity of media: Beyond painting on canvas and mixed drawing, she has mastered printmaking techniques such as lithography, incising, and serigraphy, in addition to venturing into furniture design and applied arts.

Loretta Surico
Theater: From the second half of the eighties, she expanded her artistic language toward the performing arts, successfully working as a set designer and costume designer for important productions staged in major Italian theaters.

Technical sheet describing the original drawing and biographical note about the artist.
Description of the Drawing
Original drawing in mixed technique on paper, executed in vertical format with dimensions of 40 by 49 centimeters. The work presents a frontal portrait of a human face with an introspective and melancholic gaze, supported on a hand. The features, resolved with soft graphite pencil strokes, contrast with an abstract background of