Carlo Carrà, The Metaphysical Muse, 1917. Oil on canvas, 90 × 66 cm. © 2018 Pinacoteca di Brera.

LONDON.- The Estorick opens its 20th anniversary year with a major exhibition of works from one of the world’s most important collections of modern Italian art, housed at Milan’s Pinacoteca di Brera. Comprising paintings and sculptures donated to the museum by Emilio and Maria Jesi, it includes iconic images by Umberto Boccioni, Gino Severini and Mario Sironi, an extraordinary nucleus of Metaphysical paintings by Carlo Carrà, and important works by Giorgio de Chirico, Giorgio Morandi and Filippo De Pisis. The Enchanted Room runs at the Estorick Collection from 24 January until 8 April 2018. 

Like Eric and Salome Estorick, Emilio and Maria Jesi were primarily drawn to figurative art and sculpture, although their collection does include a characteristic work of geometric abstraction by the maverick painter Osvaldo Licini. On donating their works to the Brera in 1976, they stated: “This collection of the art of our time, entrusted to the State, is dedicated to the artists and art lovers of yesterday, today and tomorrow.” 

Among the highlights of the exhibition will be Boccioni’s Divisionist Self Portrait of 1908, and Carrà’s The Metaphysical Muse of 1917, in which a looming, faceless mannequin generates the claustrophobic and unsettling atmosphere typical of Pittura metafis ica . Alongside these will feature Amedeo Modigliani’s famous Portrait of the Painter Moïse Kisling (1915), Severini’s equally renowned Le Nord - Sud – a dynamic Futurist tribute to the Paris Métro of 1912 – and Ardengo Soffici’s exuberant Cubo-Futurist collage Watermelon and Liqueurs (1914). Also included are a small number of Mario Sironi’s sombre cityscapes, and Massimo Campigli’s otherworldly depictions of women, as well as a stunning selection of still lifes by Giorgio Morandi. 

This is first time a major part of the Jesi collection has been shown outside of Italy. It will be displayed alongside a rehang of the Estorick’s own permanent collection, thereby providing an exceptional opportunity for the public take a glimpse inside the minds of these great collectors of Modern Italian art. 

Full list of artists on show: Umberto Boccioni, Massimo Campigli, Carlo Carrà, Giorgio de Chirico, Filippo De Pisis, Osvaldo Licini, Mario Mafai, Marino Marini, Amedeo Modigliani, Giorgio Morandi, Ottone Rosai, Gino Severini, Scipione (Gino Bonichi), Mario Sironi, Ardengo Soffici.

Umberto Boccioni, Self-Portrait, 1908. Oil on canvas, 70 x 100 cm. © 2018 Pinacoteca di Brera.

Umberto Boccioni, Self-Portrait (back), 1908?. Oil on canvas, 70 x 100 cm. © 2018 Pinacoteca di Brera.

Gino Severini, Le Nord - Sud, 1912. Oil on panel, 49 x 64 cm. © 2018 Pinacoteca di Brera.

Ardengo Soffici, Watermelon and Liqueurs, 1914. Oil on canvasboard, 65 x 54 cm. © 2018 Pinacoteca di Brera.

Giorgio De Chirico, Le printemps de l’ingénieur, 1914. Oil on canvas, 52 x 43 cm. © 2018 Pinacoteca di Brera.

Amedeo Modigliani, Portrait of the Painter Moisè Kisling, 1915. Oil on canvas, 37 × 29 cm. © 2018 Pinacoteca di Brera.

Amedeo Modigliani, Head of a Young Woman, 1915. Oil on canvas, 46 x 38 cm. © 2018 Pinacoteca di Brera.

Giorgio Morandi, Self-Portrait, 1924. Oil on canvas, 48.5 x 40. © 2018 Pinacoteca di Brera.

Giorgio Morandi, Still Life, 1929. Oil on canvas, 55 x 58 cm. © 2018 Pinacoteca di Brera.

Marino Marini, Il miracolo (Gothic Cathedral), 1943. Plaster, h 70 cm. © 2018 Pinacoteca di Brera.

Alberto Giacometti, Female Figure, ca. 1956. Plaster, 41.6 x 17.3 1 cm. © 2018 Pinacoteca di Brera.