Gianni Metalli Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

Gianni Metalli (1930 - 2006) was an artist born in Lugano. Here he attended compulsory school and subsequently the School of Arts and Crafts in Bellinzona. Read the full biography

Gianni Metalli (1930 - 2006) was an artist born in Lugano. Here he attended compulsory school and subsequently the School of Arts and Crafts in Bellinzona. He is self-taught in his artistic training. After a figurative beginning, in the early 1970s he began a pictorial research of geometric orientation, which drew important stimuli from his meeting with the architect and artist Alberto Sartoris. He mainly creates small and medium-sized acrylics, alongside watercolors and drawings on paper. Since 1962 he has held personal exhibitions in local and foreign galleries; participates in collective exhibitions in Switzerland and later also in Germany and Italy. Between 1963 and 1985 he designed some theater sets. In the 70s and 80s he illustrated various literary and artistic publications. In 1996 he carried out an important public work in Locarno and in 2000 he carried out another significant intervention in the headquarters of the State Bank of Lugano. Starting from 1961 he obtained various awards in Ticino and in Italy. In 2001 he exhibited at Villa dei Cedri in Bellinzona, where his donation to the museum was presented. In 2010 the Cantonal Art Museum of Lugano exhibited the nucleus of the painter's works belonging to the cantonal collections, which includes the donation of Olga Metalli, the artist's widow. Metalli draws the initial inspiration of his geometric poetics from architecture and natural landscapes.