MATERIALS: Oil and tempera on wood
DIMENSIONS: 123.5 × 112.4 × 4.4 cm
INSCRIPTIONS: Titled, signed and dated on the verso, top: ‘“Legni Bianchi” Fabio Mauri 1959’, bottom: ‘Fabio Mauri’ (upside-down)
PROVENANCE: Fabio Mauri Estate, Rome
COLLECTION: Leo Katz, Bogotá
CATALOGUE: S_1959_168
Two white, monochrome schermo-panels mounted one on top of the other onto a natural wooden frame. Entitled Schermi in legni bianchi,1 this work was almost always exhibited alongside Schermo in legno nero (inv. 179), which was in an identical format, albeit consisting of a single monochrome panel. For greater insight into the concept of ‘schermo’ in Mauri’s work, see the introductory essays.
1. Although the title ‘Legni Bianchi’ appears on the reverse, we prefer to maintain ‘Schermi in legni bianchi’, as the work is cited in almost all publications.
1969, Rome, Studio d’Arte Toninelli, Fabio Mauri 1959-1969, opening 1 July, curated by Cesare Vivaldi.
1973, Rome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, X Quadriennale d’arte: La ricerca estetica dal 1960 al 1970, 22 May – 30 June.
1973, Philadelphia, Civic Center Museum, Art around ’70: Italy two, 2 November – 16 December.
1990-1991, Rome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Roma Anni Sessanta. Al di là della pittura, 20 December 1990 – 15 February 1991, curated by Maurizio Calvesi, Rosella Siligato.
1990, Rome, Galleria Netta Vespignani, Millenovecentosessanta, February, curated by Plinio De Martiis.
1991, Vienna, Modern Kunst Museum, Bildlicht, 3 May – 7 July.
1994, Rome, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Fabio Mauri. Opere e Azioni 1954-1994, 21 June – 5 October, curated by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Marcella Cossu.
1994, London, Smith’s Galleries, Four Italian Masters of Contemporary Art, 20 October – 6 December.
1997, Klagenfurt, Kunsthalle, Fabio Mauri. Male e bellezza / Das Böse und das Schöne, 24 April – 30 June, curated by Arnulf Rohsmann.
2000, Catanzaro, Complesso Monumentale del San Giovanni, Mitici Sessanta: aspetti della ricerca, 22 September – 12 November, curated by Tonino Sicoli, Massimo Di Stefano.
2003, Tourcoing-Lille, Le Fresnoy, Studio national des arts contemporains, Fabio Mauri – L’écran mental, 1 March – 27 April, curated by Dominique Païni.
2004, Rome, Palazzo della Fontana di Trevi, Plinio, 12 October.
2007, Milan, Galleria Milano, Fabio Mauri: Schermi, 3 May – 15 July.
2008, Rome, Auditorium Parco della Musica, Fabio Mauri. L’universo d’uso, 17 April – 15 May, curated by Anna Cestelli Guidi, Francesca Alfano Miglietti.
2010, Alessandria, Palazzo del Monferrato, Roma ’60, 19 March – 4 July, curated by Luca Beatrice.
2016-2017, Naples, Museo Madre, Retrospettiva a luce solida, 26 November 2016 – 6 March 2017, curated by Laura Cherubini, Andrea Viliani.
2018-2020, Philadelphia, Edna and Stanley Tuttleman Gallery, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Surface Disappearances: Minimalist and Monochrome Painting, 19 October 2018 – 16 September 2020, curated by Erica F. Battle, The John Alchin and Hal Marryatt Associate Curator of Contemporary Art.
Fabio Mauri, exhibition catalogue, Studio d’Arte Toninelli, Rome, edited by Cesare Vivaldi (Rome: Studio d’Arte Toninelli, 1969), p. 38 (ill.).
Amore mio, exhibition catalogue, Palazzo Ricci, Montepulciano (Siena), edited by Achille Bonito Oliva (Florence: Centro Di Edizioni, 1970), n.p. (ill.).
Art around ’70: Italy two, exhibition catalogue, Civic Center Museum, Philadelphia (Philadelphia, 1973), n.p. (ill.).
X Quadriennale Nazionale d’Arte: La ricerca estetica dal 1960 al 1970, exhibition catalogue, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, edited by Filiberto Menna (Rome: De Luca editore, 1973), p. 60 (ill.).
Laura Cherubini, “Roma Anni '60. Attraverso le voci dei suoi protagonisti”, in Flash Art, no. 153, Giancarlo Politi Editore, Milan, December 1989, p. 86 (ill.).
Maurizio Calvesi, “Roma anni '60. Al di là della pittura”, in Roma Anni ’60. Al di là della pittura, exhibition catalogue, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, edited by Maurizio Calvesi, Rosella Siligato (Rome: Edizioni Carte Segrete, 1990), pp. 13–14, 62 (ill.).
Millenovecentosessanta 3, exhibition catalogue, Galleria Netta Vespignani, Rome, edited by Plinio De Martiis (Turin: Umberto Allemandi & C., 1990), no. 9 (ill.).
Bildlicht: Malerei zwischen Material und Immaterialität, exhibition catalogue, Modern Kunst Museum, Vienna, edited by Wolfgang Drechsler, Peter Weibel (Vienna: Wiener Festwochen, 1991), p. 146 (ill.).
Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, “I prototipi: schermi. 1957-1994”, in Fabio Mauri. Opere e Azioni 1954-1994, exhibition catalogue, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome, edited by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Marcella Cossu (Milan / Rome: Editoriale Giorgio Mondadori / Carte Segrete, 1994), pp. 78–83 (ill.).
Fabio Mauri: Male e bellezza – Das Böse und das Schöne, exhibition catalogue, Kunsthalle, Klagenfurt, edited by Arnulf Rohsmann (Klagenfurt, 1997), p. 76 (ill.).
Mitici Sessanta: Aspetti della ricerca, exhibition catalogue, Complesso Monumentale del San Giovanni, Catanzaro, edited by Tonino Sicoli, Massimo di Stefano (Catanzaro: Edizioni L’Una di Sera, 2000), p. 104 (ill.).
Miriam Mirolla, Guido Zucconi, Arte del Novecento: 1945-2001, edited by Rita Scrimieri (Milan: Mondadori Università, 2002), p. 77 (ill.).
Fabio Mauri. Schermi, exhibition catalogue, Galleria Milano, Milan, edited by Francesca Alfano Miglietti (Milan: Galleria Milano, 2007), pp. 9–14, no. 2 (ill.).
Laura Cherubini, “Fabio Mauri. Un pensiero fisico”, in Flash Art, Year XL, no. 266, Milan, October–November 2007, p. 82 (ill.).
Fabio Mauri. L’universo d’uso, exhibition catalogue, Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome, edited by Francesca Alfano Miglietti (Milan: Skira, 2008), p. 62 (ill.).
Fabio Mauri, Scritti in mostra. L’avanguardia come zona 1958-2008, edited by Francesca Alfano Miglietti (Milan: il Saggiatore, 2008), p. 158 (ill.).
Roma ’60, exhibition catalogue, Palazzo del Monferrato, Alessandria, edited by Luca Beatrice (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2010), p. 289 (ill.).
