Manini — Informal Landscape (c. 1981) — Mixed media on canvas — Matter Informalism

A work with a distinct Informalist aesthetic that explores the synthesis of landscape through a bold experimentation with textures and the physical behavior of pigment.

Signed in the upper right corner by Manini and tentatively dated around 1981 (as suggested by the workshop inscription "12 M 81" on its reverse), this piece is fully in line with the currents of Informalism and European material abstraction of the second half of the 20th century. The work offers a blurred and earthy vision of a natural landscape, where explicit figuration is subordinated to the pure expressiveness of the materials.

Technically, the artist creates a radical contrast on the canvas surface. On one hand, he uses very diluted washes in earth tones, ochres, and sky blues that stain the fabric, revealing its weave, creating ethereal and washed backgrounds. Over this fluid base, he applies a dense, dark, and highly textured impasto to define the central organic masses and the schematic trees in the lower plane. This duality between the liquid stain (which expands freely) and the tactile volume of pure matter is the central narrative resource of informalist painting, aesthetically recalling the precepts of the material avant-garde of the 70s and 80s.

Technical details

• Artist: Manini

• Title: Informal Landscape (descriptive title)

• Year: c. 1981

• Style: Informalism / Material Abstraction

• Technique: Mixed media (oils and washes) on canvas

• Artwork dimensions: 60 x 37 cm (12M Format)

• Dimensions with frame: 70 x 47 cm (Landscape format)

• Signature: Upper right corner ("MANINI")

• Framing: Straight-lined wooden frame in a patinated white/cream tone.

• Condition: Excellent. The canvas maintains tension, and the material pictorial layer is stable.

The Taller Note

The landscape takes shape through the contrast between diluted colour and dense, dark accumulations of pigment. The fabric remains visible in places, allowing the physical behaviour of the materials to become part of the image.