Silvio Mattioli (1929-2011) - Ohne Titel

-Dipinto by Silvio Mattioli (1929–2011) was one of the most important and influential three-dimensional artists in 20th-century Switzerland, famous especially as a master of sculpture in iron and steel. His biographical trajectory unites a deep artisanal mastery of metals with a refined sensibility for abstract art and geometric decomposition.
Origins and Training
The forge dynasty: Silvio Mattioli was born on February 2, 1929 in Winterthur-Töss, Switzerland. His family boasts a long and rooted Italian tradition in the art of forging and metal carpentry. This domestic context allows him to become familiar from an early age with hot working of heavy materials.
Art studies: Between 1945 and 1946 he undertook formal apprenticeship as a stone sculptor in Winterthur. Subsequently he enrolled at the prestigious Kunstgewerbeschule of Zurich (School of Applied Arts), where he studied sculpture under the guidance of master Otto Teucher and deepened his study of art history with Edwin Gradmann.

Descriptive and formal sheet
Subject: Vertical anthropomorphic composition. The work depicts three stylized faces superimposed, captured in a profile or three-quarter pose. The vertical arrangement creates an ascending rhythm, in which each face seems to emerge or interlock with the adjacent one.
Style and Visual Language: The language is abstract-figurative, heavily influenced by Cubism and Constructivism. The facial features are reduced to essential geometries: the eyes are rendered with ovular shapes cut by straight lines, the noses are pointed prisms, and the mouths are decisive segments. This geometric decomposition reflects the artist’s plastic and sculptural sensibility.
Technique and Application: This is a mixed-media drawing on paper. Black, bold lines in ink (or fine charcoal) define the structural framework of the faces. Over these lie fluid, transparent washes of watercolor or diluted tempera. The brushstrokes are dynamic, free, and not confined by outlines, leaving large portions of the neutral paper background to give the composition space.
Chromatism: The palette is rigorous and essential. Cold tones of blue and powdered blue predominate, defining the volumes and the surrounding atmosphere. This monochromatic scheme is punctuated by warm, vibrant touches of bright red and orange, strategically placed at the lips and along the profile lines to create points of strong visual contrast.
Signature and Inscriptions: At the lower left, traced in graphite with a fluid cursive script, is the artist Silvio Mattioli’s autograph, followed by the numeric dating 1988.
Condition and Presentation: The sheet is in excellent conservation state, mounted inside a light, beveled museum passe-partout. The work is protected by glass and framed by a darkened metal mount with a minimal and glossy profile, typical of contemporary art gallery display choices in the late 1980s."