Ugo Guidi, Rosai's portrait (1955)

pencil, 33,1x24,7 cm
Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, Gabinetto dei Disegni e delle Stampe

This 1955 drawing portraies a friend of Ugo Guidi, Ottone Rosai, the famous Florentine futurist painter. Rosai, together with Piero Santi, convinced Guidi to expose his works in an exhibition, the firs personal exhibition of the sculptor, that took place in 1956 in the "La Strozzina" gallery in Florence.
We know that the portraied subject is Rosai because Guidi himself says this, writing the name of the painter under his figure: Ugo Guidi was accustomed to sign and date his drawings, and sometimes he wrote also the work's title. In this portrait Rosai is represented in profile, sitting on a chair, and the way Ugo Guidi manages to represent his friend with few lines is very singular.
In this drawing Guidi represents an old-aged Rosai, with a wrinkled face, a nose with a bump, the tired expression, the head covered by a hat. The robust body is attached to the chair, and the position covers an arm and a leg. However the feet are smaller than the other parts of the body.

A project by
Federico Giannini

Museo Ugo Guidi
(Forte dei Marmi)

Associazione Amici
del Museo Ugo Guidi
Onlus


Humanities
Computing

University of Pisa