86. Antigraceful in a stream of bulbous masses accompanied Antigrazioso 1913 by some disorder; it is not an actual stylistic organization but is in any case a tendency to­ Bronze ward style; the compressed lumps of flesh 24 X 20Y2 X 16 in. (61 X 52.1 X 40.6 em.) weigh in a few hollows constructed by the Collection Lydia Winston Malbin, New York bony framework that here and there protrudes in hooks suggesting a submerged but secure The present work was cast in bronze by the structure. Again, the weightiness of the sag­ lost-wax process in 1950-51 from the plaster ging material-this plastic obsession that dom­ original, which then belonged to the Mari­ inates modern art-is vitally expressed where netti family. The work was commissioned a number of bulbous forms hang on a single from the Perego foundry by Gino Ghiringhelli filament, hidden like a dozen soft figs attached of the Galleria 11 Milione in Milan on the oc­ to a single stem. Some elements remain out­ casion of an exhibition of Italian art in Paris. side, alluded to but not integrated into the en­ In November 1956 this cast was sold by vironmental background, from which two Benedetta Marinetti to Harry and Lydia Win­ superfluous papery segments radiate. But it is ston (now Collection Lydia Winston Malbin, necessary to dwell on these elements some­ New York), along with the two other bronzes, what when they tend to stand out and almost Development of a Bottle in Space (no. 87) and to impose themselves .... Antigraceful: an ar­ Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (no. 88). ticulated, almost submerged but sure struc­ The plaster model, exhibited in Paris in ture, since in its hollow intervals it clots in the summer of 1913 along with other sculp­ hardened bulbous masses-a hardening also tures, was sold on that occasion or shortly in the organic sense-the convoluted mire of thereafter. Indeed, Boccioni in a letter to his friend Giuseppe Sprovieri-the young gallery owner and promoter of numerous Futurist projects, including the sculpture show in his gallery on Via del Tritone in Rome-stated that the work had been sold. In all probability the letter dates to late 1913, shortly before the opening of the sculpture exhibition on De­ cember 6. On the occasion of this Rome show the critic for Il Tirso remarked: "The origi­ nality and works of this man, who in a single year has passed from the quasi-Impressionist experiments of Antigraceful to the straightfor­ ward Futurism of Unique Forms of Continuity in Space, are truly admirable! Antigraceful al­ ready offers some experiments in thickness and a few timid interpenetrations of planes." Exhibited again in Florence in 1914, as the property of Cavaliere Alberto Porta of Milan, the sculpture was analyzed by Longhi (1914): "A few words on Antigraceful will suffice. Imagine a Post-Impressionism that, by leaving much to the action of chiaroscuro, tends to consolidate some flowing, instanta­ neous image-perhaps Rosso's old concierge -by gathering the disturbed plastic material 86 211 .