Giorgio Morandi was an Italian
painterPainting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
and
printmakerPrintmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints with an element of originality, rather than just being a photographic reproduction of a painting. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable...
who specialized in
still lifeA still life is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which may be either natural or man-made...
. His paintings are noted for their tonal subtlety in depicting apparently simple subjects, which were limited mainly to vases, bottles, bowls, flowers, and landscapes.
Biography
Giorgio Morandi was born in Bologna to Andrea and Maria Maccaferri. Little Giorgio lived first on via Lame where his brother Giuseppe (who died in 1903) and his sister Anna were born. The family then moved to via Avesella n. 30, where his two other sisters were born, Dina in 1900 and Maria Teresa in 1906. From 1907 to 1913 he studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti of Bologna. After the death of his father in 1909, the family moved to via Fondazza n. 36, and Morandi became the head of the family.
At the Accademia, which based its traditions on 14th-century painting, Morandi taught himself to etch by studying books on
Rembrandt.
He was excellent at his studies, although his professors disapproved of the changes in his style during his final two years at the Accademia. Morandi, even if he lived his whole life in Bologna, was influenced by the works of Cézanne, Derain, and Picasso. However, in particular after a trip to Florence in 1910, he was also influenced by past artists such as Giotto,
MasaccioMasaccio , born Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone, was the first great painter of the Quattrocento period of the Italian Renaissance. According to Vasari, Masaccio was the best painter of his generation because of his skill at recreating lifelike figures and movements as well as a convincing sense...
,
Piero Della FrancescaPiero della Francesca was a painter of the Early Renaissance. As testified by Giorgio Vasari in his Lives of the Artists, to contemporaries he was also known as a mathematician and geometer. Nowadays Piero della Francesca is chiefly appreciated for his art. His painting was characterized by its...
, and
Paolo UccelloPaolo Uccello , born Paolo di Dono, was an Italian painter and a mathematician who was notable for his pioneering work on visual perspective in art. Giorgio Vasari in his book Lives of the Artists wrote that Uccello was obsessed by his interest in perspective and would stay up all night in his...
. He also had a brief digression into a
FuturistFuturism was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century. It emphasized and glorified themes associated with contemporary concepts of the future, including speed, technology, youth and violence, and objects such as the car, the airplane and the industrial city...
style in 1914. In that same year, Morandi was appointed instructor of drawing for elementary schools in Bologna—a post he held until 1929.
In 1915, he joined the army but suffered a breakdown and was indefinitely discharged. During the war, Morandi's still lifes became more reduced in their compositional elements and purer in form, revealing his admiration for both Cézanne and
the Douanier RousseauHenri Julien Félix Rousseau was a French Post-Impressionist painter in the Naïve or Primitive manner. He was also known as Le Douanier , a humorous description of his occupation as a toll collector...
.
The Metaphysical painting (Pittura Metafisica) phase in Morandi's work lasted from 1918 to 1922. This was to be his last major stylistic shift; thereafter, he focused increasingly on subtle gradations of hue, tone, and objects arranged in a unifying atmospheric haze, establishing the direction his art was to take for the rest of his life. Morandi showed in the
Novecento ItalianoNovecento Italiano was an Italian artistic movement founded in Milan in 1922 by Anselmo Bucci , Leonardo Dudreville , Achille Funi, Gian Emilio Malerba , Piero Marussig, Ubaldo Oppi and Mario Sironi...
exhibitions of 1926 and 1929, but was more specifically associated with the regional
Strapaese group by the end of the decade, a
fascistFascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
-influenced group emphasizing local cultural traditions. He was sympathetic to the Fascist party in the 1920s, although his friendships with anti-Fascist figures led authorities to arrest him briefly in 1943. From 1928 Morandi participated in some of the
Venice BiennaleThe Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
exhibitions, in the Quadriennale in
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and also exhibited in different Italian and foreign cities.
In 1929 Giorgio Morandi illustrated the work
Il sole a picco by
Vincenzo CardarelliVincenzo Cardarelli, pseudonym of Nazareno Caldarelli was an Italian journalist, writer and poet.Cardarelli was born in Corneto, Lazio, to a family of Marche origin. His studies were irregular and he tried different jobs...
, winner of the Premio Bagutta. From 1930 to 1956, Morandi was a professor of
etchingEtching is the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal...
at Accademia di Belle Arti. The 1948
Venice BiennaleThe Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
awarded him first prize for painting, he visited Paris for the first time in 1956, and in 1957 he won the grand prize in
São PauloSão Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
's Biennial.
Quiet, polite both in his private and public life, Morandi was much talked about in Bologna for his enigmatic yet very optimistic personality. Morandi lived on via Fondazza, in Bologna, with his three sisters Anna, Dina and Maria Teresa, until his death on June 18, 1964.
Legacy
Throughout his career, Morandi concentrated almost exclusively on
still lifeA still life is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which may be either natural or man-made...
s and landscapes, except for a few self-portraits. With great sensitivity to tone, color, and compositional balance, he would depict the same familiar bottles and vases again and again in paintings notable for their simplicity of execution. A prolific painter, he completed some 1350 oil paintings. He also executed 133 etchings, a significant body of work in its own right, and his drawings and watercolors often approach abstraction in their economy of means. He explained: "What interests me most is expressing what’s in nature, in the visible world, that is"; he also said, "Nothing is more abstract than reality".
Morandi was perceived as one of the few Italian artists of his generation to have escaped the taint of Fascism, and to have evolved a style of pure pictorial values congenial to modernist abstraction. Through his simple and repetitive motifs and economical use of color, value and surface, Morandi became a prescient and important forerunner of
MinimalismMinimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is set out to expose the essence, essentials or identity of a subject through eliminating all non-essential forms, features or concepts...
.
Morandi is buried at Certosa cemetery in Bologna in the family tomb together with his three sisters. On his tomb there is a portrait of him donated by his friend
Giacomo ManzuGiacomo Manzù, pseudonym of Giacomo Manzoni , was an Italian sculptor, communist, and Roman Catholic.-Biography:...
.
In 1992,
Palazzo D'Accursiothumb|260px|Palazzo d'Accursio.Palazzo d'Accursio is a palace in Bologna, Italy. It is located on the Piazza Maggiore and had been the city's Town Hall until 11 November 2008....
in Bologna created the Giorgio Morandi museum, thanks to the donation made by his sister Maria Teresa Morandi of his works and also the atelier of the artist which were family belongings.
He has been written about by Philippe Jaccottet,
Jean LeymarieJean Leymarie may refer to:*Jean Leymarie *Jean Leymarie...
,
Jean ClairJean Clair is the nom de plume of Gérard Régnier . He is an essayist, a polemicist, an art historian, an art conservator, and a member of the French Academy since May, 2008. He was, for many years, the director of the Picasso Museum in Paris...
, Yves Bonnefoy, Roberto Longhi, Francesco Arcangeli, Cesare Brandi, Lambeto Vitali, Luigi Magnani, Marilena Pasquali and many other critics.
Federico FelliniFederico Fellini, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , was an Italian film director and scriptwriter. Known for a distinct style that blends fantasy and baroque images, he is considered one of the most influential and widely revered filmmakers of the 20th century...
paid tribute to him in his film
La dolce vitaLa Dolce Vita is a 1960 comedy-drama film written and directed by the critically acclaimed director Federico Fellini. The film is a story of a passive journalist's week in Rome, and his search for both happiness and love that will never come...
, which featured Morandi's paintings, as does
La notte by
Michelangelo AntonioniMichelangelo Antonioni, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian modernist film director, screenwriter, editor and short story writer.- Personal life :...
. One of the main characters in
Sarah HallSarah Hall is an English novelist, and poet. Her critically acclaimed second novel, The Electric Michelangelo, was nominated for the 2004 Man Booker Prize and achieved considerable international commercial success...
's novel
How to Paint a Dead Man is loosely based on Morandi.
Morandi was a particular favourite of eccentic Scottish poet
Ivor CutlerIvor Cutler was a Scottish poet, songwriter and humorist. He became known for his regular performances on BBC radio, and in particular his numerous sessions recorded for John Peel's influential radio programme, and later for Andy Kershaw's programme...
, who included a poem about the painter in his 1973 anthology
Many Flies Have Feathers.
Two oil paintings by Morandi were chosen by the President of the United States
Barack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
in 2009 and are now part of the
White HouseThe White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
collection.
Today, there is a museum dedicated to the display of Morandi's work, including a reconstruction of his studio, in Bologna.
Exhibitions
Although Morandi was not greatly concerned with exhibitions during his own lifetime, his works have been displayed in the Modern Art Museum of Bologna and in many other cities, due largely to the Centro Studi Giorgio Morandi. In December 2008 an exhibition was dedicated to Giorgio Morandi at the
Metropolitan Museum of ArtThe Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
in New York.
Photography and Giorgio Morandi
Some of the most famous photographers of the 20th century took Morandi's photo at his house on via Fondazza, at Grizzana Morandi's house, and at the Venice Biennal.
Among the photographers who took Giorgio Morandi's picture or pictures of his studio are:
Herbert ListHerbert List was a German photographer who worked for magazines including Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and Life and was associated with Magnum Photos...
,
Duane MichalsDuane Michals is an American photographer. Michals' work makes innovative use of photo-sequences, often incorporating text to examine emotion and philosophy.-Education and career:...
, Jean Francois Bauret, Paolo Prandi,
Paolo FerrariPaolo Ferrari , Italian dramatist, was born at Modena. His numerous works, chiefly comedies, and all marked by a fresh and piquant style, are the finest product of the modern Italian drama. After producing some minor pieces, in 1852 he made his reputation as a playwright with Goldoni e le sue...
, Lamberto Vitali, Libero Grandi, Franz Hubmann,
Leo LionniLeo Lionni was an author and illustrator of children's books. Born in Holland, he moved to Italy and lived there before moving to the United States in 1939, where he worked as an art director for several advertising agencies, and then for Fortune magazine. He returned to Italy in 1962 and started...
, Antonio Masotti, Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti,
Lee MillerElizabeth 'Lee' Miller, Lady Penrose was an American photographer. Born in Poughkeepsie, New York in 1907, she was a successful fashion model in New York City in the 1920s before going to Paris where she became an established fashion and fine art photographer...
, Giancolombo,
Ugo MulasUgo Mulas was an Italian photographer noted for his portraits of artists and his street photography.Ugo Mulas began his studies in law in 1948 in Milan, but left to take art courses at the Brera Fine Arts Academy. In 1954 he was asked to cover the Venice Biennale, his first professional assignment...
,
Luigi GhirriLuigi Ghirri was an Italian photographer. Born in Scandiano, Ghirri began taking photographs in 1970, mostly working in a milieu of conceptual artists. From 1983 he focussed primarily on photographing architecture and the Italian landscape...
, Gianni Berengo Gardin, and Luciano Calzolari.
The film-maker
Tacita DeanTacita Dean is an English visual artist who works primarily in film. She is one of the Young British Artists, and was a nominee for the Turner Prize in 1998.-Life and work:...
filmed the inside of this artist's house on via Fondazza 36.
Further reading
- Coldwell, Paul (2006). Morandi's Legacy: Influences on British Art. I.B. Tauris
I. B. Tauris is an independent publishing house with offices in London and New York.-History:I.B.Tauris was founded in 1983. Its declared strategy was to fill the perceived gap between trade publishing houses and university presses—that is, to publish serious but accessible works on international...
. ISBN 0-85667-620-9
External links