Posted on 11/27/2008 10:54:27 PM PST by bruinbirdman
Alitalia, the bankrupt Italian airline, is selling off its multimillion-pound collection of modern art to help to reduce crippling debts, as it prepares for a relaunch next month under new ownership.
The collection includes works by some of the 20th century’s most bankable artists, including Salvador DalÍ, Giorgio De Chirico and Giacomo Balla. Alitalia also holds paintings by the leading Futurist panter Gino Severini, who, towards the end of his life, was commissioned to paint works for the airline’s Paris offices.
Art experts said Alitalia held nearly 200 significant modern works of art. While not all would fetch high prices, about a quarter of the collection was “extremely valuable”. In June a painting by Severini entitled La Danseuse sold for £15 million at Sotheby's in London, making it the most expensive Futurist work yet auctioned.
The collection includes works by Giuseppe Capogrossi, Renato Guttuso, Mario Sironi, Fortunato Depero, Ottone Rosai and Massimo Campigli, as well as sculptures by Giacomo Manzu and Mario Ceroli.
The sale is unlikely, however, to include Ceroli’s massive and intricate sphere, entitled Squilibrio (Imbalance), which stands at Fiumicino airport outside Rome and is intended as a homage to Leonardo Da Vinci, the Renaissance genius who foresaw manned flight.
Officials at Alitalia, which began flying in 1947, said the collection had its beginnings during happier times in the 1950s, when the airline bought modern art works to decorate its boardrooms, VIP lounges and even its fleet of DC8 aircraft. The policy was intended to show the world the best of Italy on the country’s flag carrier, officials said. The artworks are now at Alitalia offices in Rome, Milan, Turin and New York, or in storage.
The sale has been authorised by Augusto Fantozzi, the law professor who took control in August of the strike-prone, state-owned airline as
(Excerpt) Read more at entertainment.timesonline.co.uk ...
Elvis gets a brighter halo?!
uh huh huh
yitbos
what the hell is an airline company in possession of art collection.
I wouldn’t consider Alitalia a airline...it was more like a state-run welfare operation. They haven’t cleared a profit with the airline since the mid-80s...and they’ve been up for sale for almost a decade. Everytime a confident buyer was found...then it came out that forty percent of the scheduled flights would be canceled and a quarter of the work-force terminated...then the union got involved and would kill off the deal.
This is the airline with a thousand managers...who were overpaid and barely did five hours of real work a day. It was the airline that found jobs for relatives of employees...even if they had no experience.
Based on comments made...I think the art collection was something that the bigwigs of the company got into...to show taste and style whenever VIPs came in...like political figures. Year after year....they collected more...charging it as a business expense. They were apparently never fearful of bankruptcy because the state simply would pour more money into the organization.
I would like the Gecko Caveman oil series.
Is it Gecko or Progressive?
Anyway that dude is hot.
I flew to Europe this last May on this piece of crap. AWFUL even on First Class.
The description of Alitalia sounds eerily like GM.
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