Unsold Burri of discord: no buyer for work that caused Montanari-Daverio clash

No buyer for Alberto Burri ’s (Città di Castello, 1915-Nice, 1995) Large Wood and Red, the star work of the Phillips auction house’s New York sale in the Nov. 15 auction. Burri’s work, executed between 1957 and 1959 and estimated at between $10 million and $15 million, remained unsold and thus could not beat the Umbrian artist’s record, set in 2016, when a 1959 Sacco e rosso was hammered at Sotheby’s for more than £9 million (about $13 million).

The Large Wood and Red had recently been at the center of a bitter clash between Tomaso Montanari and Philippe Daverio over whether the work should leave Italy to be sold abroad.

Pictured: Alberto Burri, Large Wood and Red (1957-1959; mixed media, 150 x 250 cm)

Unsold Burri of discord: no buyer for work that caused Montanari-Daverio clash

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