(Udine 1910–1976 Zurich)
“Nero grigio ocra”, 1961, signed, dated Afro 61 titled on the reverse, mixed media on paper laid down on canvas, 50 x 66 cm, framed, (AR)

The work is registered in the Archivio Afro, Rome, under the Archive no. 61B113

Photo certificate released by Mario Graziani, Milan, 14 June 1990

Provenance:
Private Collection, Rome
Marlborough Gallery, Rome (label traces on the stretcher)
Galleria Toninelli, Milan (stamp on the reverse)
Galleria d’Arte contremporanea Manuela Allegrini, Brescia (stamp on the reverse)
Lagorio Arte Contemporanea, Brescia (stamp on the reverse)
Galleria d’Arte Niccoli, Parma
European Private Collection

Exhibition:
Milan, Galleria Toninelli, Afro, 1968, exh. cat. with ill.
Florence, Galleria Michaud, Afro, 1968, exh. cat. with ill.
Turin, Galleria Narciso, 1968, exh. cat. with ill.
Padua, Galleria La Chiocciola, exh. cat. with ill.
Brescia, Galleria Il Minotauro, 1969, exh. cat. with ill.

Literature:
James Johnson, Sweeney, Afro 1951 – 1961, Edizioni d’Arte Moderna, Rome 1961, p. 31
Cesare Brandi, Afro, Editalia, Rome 1977, p. 190, no. 170 with ill.
Manuela Allegrini (ed.), Contemporary art catalogue, Brescia 1992, p. 75 with ill.

Afro […] is rarely tempted to darken his heavens. The basic spirit of his art is festive. Though a wistful note may occasionally creep into his palette, he never strikes a tragic one. His natural expression is too full of the love of living to allow even a hint of trouble, actual as it may be to him, to show through the joy and gayety which is the dialect he consistently speaks […]
(James Johnson Sweeney, Afro, 1961)