Ettore Colla Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

Guide to Ettore Colla price quotations

Production

His expressive form evolved from the end of the 1920s to the 1950s through figurative research close to the stylistic features of the Novecento group and the figure of Arturo Martini. In the immediate post-war period he approached abstractionist research which had found fertile ground in various Italian cities, giving rise to real currents such as the MAC (Movement for Concrete Art) in the Como area, Classical Abstractionism in Florence, Forma1 and also in Rome the Origine group that Colla founded together with Capogrossi, Burri and Ballocco. His artistic form is completely dedicated to sculpture despite the fact that the first original exhibition only exhibited his works on canvas. His sculptures from the informal period are purely made of ferrous material deriving from everyday objects (usually industrial or military waste) assembled in forms that are allusively ironic at first and strongly lyrical at a later time. The relevance of Colla's artistic process to the Dadaist experiences to which the artist has always declared himself extraneous in favor of complete adherence to the Italian informal movement is much discussed.

How to evaluate a work by Ettore Colla

The necessary condition to be able to approach an evaluation process for a work by Ettore Colla is to have the certainty of its authenticity, which can only be ascertained in the presence of the publication of the work in the catalog raisonné published by Bulzoni in 1972 edited by Giorgio De Marchis and Sandra Pinto or some other authoritative publication.

Other characteristics to consider to determine the specific historical context of the work and its technical structure are the provenance, any publications and bibliography, the technique, the year of execution, the dimensions and last but not least, the state of storage.

Detailing the history of a work always guarantees greater commercial attractiveness, especially in the presence of origins from authoritative collections or official publications.

In the case of multiple works (printed on paper, canvas or sculpted), the print run must be considered more carefully, which indisputably indicates the number of copies produced.

Brackets and coefficient

Once the certainty of authenticity has been determined, historical data from past sales of works that share the same historical, technical and qualitative characteristics with the specimen to be evaluated must be traced. Such data can be extrapolated with an expert eye from the catalogs and price lists of auction houses but also from private and gallery sales that only the experience of the professional appraiser can know.

In light of these considerations we can identify some scales and evaluation parameters that will allow us to briefly identify the value of a work. Usually the sum of these factors is indicated with the name of coefficient which is nothing other than a numerical index expressed in points which will be multiplied by the dimensions of the work (identified in the sum of the base and height) to be evaluated. Clearly only the intervention of an expert evaluator will be able to determine whether or not the operation is valid.

Market

Colla's works are decidedly rare on the market and therefore establishing supply and demand rules is a decidedly difficult task. If you look at the auction awards, the trend over the last few years has been constant in prices and quite discontinuous in the number of works offered. However, being an artist consecrated by history and critics, it is absolutely to be considered an excellent investment idea, especially in the long term.

Values

Ettore Colla Biography