Harmony in Minor Key, 1973
by Luigi Lucioni (1900–1988)22¼ x 26¼ inches
Signed and dated lower right: Luigi Lucioni 1973
Provenance
William F. Nelson, Holdrege, Nebraska
Godel & Co. Fine Art, New York, New York
Private collection, Laguna Niguel, California, acquired from above, 2016
Sale, Christie’s, New York, New York, April 21, 2023, lot 146, from above
Exhibited
National Academy of Design, New York, New York, 149th Annual Exhibition, February 23–March 16, 1974
Literature
Stuart P. Embury, The Art and Life of Luigi Lucioni: A Contribution Towards a Catalogue Raisonné (Holdrege, NE: Embury Publishing Company, 2006), 220, no. 73.1.
Related Works
Close Harmony (No. 1), 1950, oil on canvas, 14 x 16 inches, signed and dated lower right; Private collection
Related Rhythm, 1958, oil on canvas, 19⅛ x 21 inches; Palmer Museum of Art of The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania
Contrasting Textures, 1965, oil on canvas, 23⅛ x 28¼ inches; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Arrangement in Blue, 1970, oil on canvas, 24 x 22 inches; Denver Art Museum, Colorado
Note: At a young age, Luigi Lucioni developed a passion for music. He attended the opera regularly (at first standing at the back of the theater before he could afford his own seat) and befriended several performers, including famed tenor Giovanni Martinelli. Lucioni also enjoyed playing the piano and he gave several of his paintings musically themed titles.
Artist Biography
Luigi Lucioni emigrated from his native Italy to the United States in 1911. Already interested in art from the age of six, Lucioni continued his studies at New York schools including the Cooper Union and National Academy of Art and was later granted a scholarship from the Tiffany Foundation. He traveled to Italy in 1925 where he discovered what he referred to as “classic realism” in the works of Italian masters Piero della Francesca, Andrea Mantegna and Leonardo da Vinci. Lucioni returned to America, where he received his first solo exhibition in 1927. His works were marked by a heightened
