Ligabue [SIGNED]
Guastalla: Augusto Agosta Tota, 1980. First edition. Hardcover. Signed Augusto Tota and numbered 0202 on colophon. Folio. 217 (1), xii (ii)pp. Original orange cloth artist binding with cutout revealing illustration from frontispiece, with with brown pebbled leather band with gilt lettering wrapped around lower spine and parts of covers. Brown textured endpapers. Color-illustrated frontispiece and title page printed on glossy stiff paper. All pages framed in black.
Unique publication published by Augusto Agosta Tota, publisher in Guastalla, on the occasion of the retrospective exhibition of Antonio Ligabue honoring the 15th anniversary of his death. The exhibition at the Palazzo dell'Arengario, curated by Augusto Agosta Tota, was promoted by Promoter Arts and sponsored by the Lombardy region, the province and the municipality of Milan. Profusely illustrated with color and b/w reproductions of Ligabue's artwork and photographs by Sergio Agosta Tota throughout. Contains list of works at rear.
Antonio Ligabue (born Antonio Laccabue) is considered to be one of the most important Naive Artists of the 20th century. Living off the support of the City Hospice of beggars, Ligabue started to paint in 1920. In 1937 Ligabue was hospitalized for self-mutilation and, in 1941, with the help of sculptor Andrea Mozzali. During the war he served as an interpreter for the German army and in 1945, after an incident with a German soldier, he was hospitalized in a mental institution for three years. After he was released he picked up painting again and critics and dealers started to show interest in his work. In 1963 the city of Guastalla arranged the first major retrospective of his work. Fine condition. Item #48780
Price: $350.00