Appreciating Lucioni

This rather diminutive picture - 8x6 inches by Luigi Lucioni achieved a rather substantial price at auction on 19 March - USD14,000 against a top estimate of USD2,500. I considered it as a companion to my Lucioni, but was awaiting provenance from the auctioneer, (which never came). In the meantime I rather lost interest, but am encouraged to see his work achieving such high prices. Two further Lucioni's, (both still lifes, one is Chinese Leaves, which graces the catalogue's cover), are for sale at Sotheby's New York on 8 April, so it will be interesting to see if they too will do well.

Cool Colors

Luigi Lucioni (American, 1900-1988), oil on canvas still life titled Cool Colors, signed lower left and dated '56, 11'' x 14''.

My lack of acquisitions at the auction house has been reversed with this purchase on Friday. News of my success is accompanied by an almost "still life" in the streets of Bangkok, which we hope may lead to a compromise that will begin to resolve the impasse that we have experienced for several weeks. It's also very apt that the picture should be entitled Cool Colors, given the colour coding attributed to both sides of this conflict.

Lucioni was born in Malante, Northern Italy, and died in Greenwich Village, New York. He was best known for his realist still lifes, but he also produced many landscape etchings. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1911 and settled in North Bergen, NJ, and had a studio in Washington Square in NYC until 1945.

His biography also reveals his work is held in a number of museum and art galleries including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; the Denver Art Museum; the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; High Museum, Atlanta, GA; the Nebraska State Capitol, Lincoln; Kansas City Museum; Rhode Island School of Design.