Gastone Novelli * (Vienna 1925-1968 Milan) Pianeta che conduce il giorno,1964, signed and dated, signed, dated and titled again on the reverse, mixed media on canvas, 80 x 100 cm, framed Provenance: Marlborough Galleria d’Arte, Rome (label on the reverse) Albert Schulze Collection, Dortmund European Private Collection Exhibited: Venice, XXXII Esposizione Biennale Internazionale d’Arte, 20 June-18 October 1964, exh. cat. p. 127 no. 9, ill. no. 64 (label on the reverse) Tehran, Peinture italienne d’aujourd’hui. 2ième exposition organisée par la “Quadriennale” d’art de Rome 1966, exh. cat. no.2; Turin, Gastone Novelli, Galleria d’Arte La Bussola, 1967, exh. cat. no. 4 (label on the reverse) Literature: A. Fuso, L’alchimia di un “viaggio” artistico: Gastone Novelli, in Omaggio a Gastone Novelli, exh. cat. Venice, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, January - April 1992, p.17 P. Vivarelli, Gli universi linguistici di Gastone Novelli, in Gastone Novelli 1925.1968, exh. cat., Trento 14 May - 22 September 1999, p. 25, with ill. D. Guzzi, L’anello mancante. Figurazione in Italia negli anni ’60 e ’70, II voll., E.N.A.P. Editori Laterza, Rome-Bari 1999, vol. I, p.204 A. Zevi, Peripezie del dopoguerra nell’arte italiana, Einaudi, Turin, p. 125 P. Bonani, M. Rinaldi, A. Tiddia (eds.), Gastone Novelli. Catalogo generale: pittura e scultura, Silvana Editoriale, Cinisello Balsamo, p. 281, no. P/1964/10 with ill. Novelli imagines an entire universe consisting of mountains, moons, suns and planets, marked out in the subtle variations of white – the white of sculptures and that of paintings. "White is the colour par excellence (covering a body, a city, a world in white and scraping off small significant parts of it), there are a quantity of whites: harsh and absorbent (chalk), soft yet repelling, that is forcing one to read on the surface (lime), dull (whitewashed sand ground), slimy (oil), and so on. White tempera applied as a cover with the right thickness forces one to read in depth.” Novelli, Pittura procedente..., p. 11.