Tree Portraits (No. 2), 1968-69

Provenance

The Milch Galleries, New York, New York
Thomas B. Donahue, St. Louis, Missouri, by 2006
Private collection, Dallas, Texas
Sale, Heritage Auctions, New York, New York, May 19, 2026, lot 67044

Literature

S.P. Embury, The Art and Life of Luigi Lucioni: A Contribution Towards A Catalogue Raisonné (Holdrege, Nebraska, 2006), 211, no. 68.9.

Related Work

Two Willows, 1936, oil on linen, 18 ³⁄₁₆ x 23 ⅛ inches; Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, Vermont

Note

In his book, Luigi Lucioni: Modern Light, Lucioni scholar David Brody states that Lucioni’s late period birch tree paintings represent the fullest expression of the artist’s ability to infuse his work with an inner light. Brody notes that the trees served as a stand-in for rejuvenation and perseverance, with an ability to self-seed and survive on abandoned agricultural land independently.[1] Lucioni renders the trees with a “super realism,” a term coined by the artist himself, that embeds nature with a stillness and intensity conveyed through density, rich color, and precise representation.[2]

[1] David Brody, Luigi Lucioni: Modern Light (Rizzoli Electa, 2022), 36.

[2] Brody, 31.