(Milan 1884 - Monte Ortigara 1917)
VECCHIO PONTE (A view of the Naviglio in Milan)
Etching; a fine impression in brownish ink on thick, white wove paper. Titled and signed typographically VECCHIO PONTE / ERBA CARLO - INC. With full margins, minor faults at the margins, generally in very good condition. To the platemark 336 x 164 mm; the full sheet measuring 404 x 308 mm. The edition of Erba's etchings titled and signed typographically is, by sure, posthumous, much probably issued by Bianca, sister of Carlo Erba, around 1944.
LITERATURE:
S. Massari, Carlo Erba, una memoria nel futurismo, catalogue of the exhibition in Rome, Calcografia Nazionale, 10 April - 10 May, 1981.
R. Bossaglia - E. Crispolti - M. Quesada - M. Rossi Lecce, Carlo Erba e Milano 1994-1917, catalogue of the exhibition in Milan, Palazzo della Permanente, December 1984-January 1985, Milan 1984.
The heir, as first born son, of the pharmaceutical industry bearing his name, Carlo Erba, after contrasts with his father, preferred to study Art and in 1908 he enrolled the Scuola Libera del Nudo at the Brera Academy, earning a living by himself, with no help from his rich family. In 1914 he was one of the founders of the group Nuove Tendenze, considered as the right wing of Futurism. A staunch interventionist, Carlo Erba together wit his futurist friends Marinetti, Boccioni, Funi, Sant'Elia, Russolo and Sironi, joined the Battaglione Lombardo Volontari Ciclisti Automobilisti. He died in 1917 during a war attack on Monte Ortigara.
