With the Italian Renaissance between the 14th and 16th centuries, Florence was for a time, the art capital of the world. With artists such as Michelangelo, de Vinci, Giotto and Botticelli, there is no dearth of Italian artwork evoking grand statements. Supported by the Vatican and the Medici family, art flourished in Italy as it has in no period since.
France gave Impressionism to the world in the 19th century. The secular age had begun. With the 20th century came the modern period with Picasso and Matisse the more prominent names. They achieved the fame the Renaissance artists had achieved. Italy was history, France was the present and America would be the future.
Meanwhile back in Italy, an artist was quietly building his oeuvre and teaching drawing in his hometown of Bologna. Giorgio Morandi, with his somber tonalist still lifes somehow managed to claim attention and achieve a reputation away from the clamor of Paris. He also earned rankings as the greatest modern painter in Italy and the master of the still life in the 20th century.
Influenced by the brooding, surrealist landscapes of Giorgio de Chirico, another Italian, Morandi did not entirely eschew tradition and his work is compared to Giotto, an early Renaissance painter much admired for his childlike simplicity. Morandi compositions, seemingly rudimentary arrangements of bottles and various containers, become monumental, evoking the architecture of medieval Bologna.
There is a saying in artistic composition that less is often more. Morandi certainly embraced this concept. With a neutral tonality, the lack of any overt technical gimmicks such as reflecting light or mirroring images, removing labels that would force attention, he gave us an almost pure form of abstraction. With his simple motifs, repeated tirelessly, a spiritual component overtakes the seemingly banal composition.
Visiting Italy and the vast quantity of Italian artwork, a quiet stop in Bologna may refresh the aesthetic sensibilities. At the Morandi Museum you will find nothing to puzzle over. With no history lessons to absorb, no technical feats to be in awe of, you will instead see with eye of a gifted artist, who offered a gentle message imbued with spirit. Read more about: Italian Artwork
France gave Impressionism to the world in the 19th century. The secular age had begun. With the 20th century came the modern period with Picasso and Matisse the more prominent names. They achieved the fame the Renaissance artists had achieved. Italy was history, France was the present and America would be the future.
Meanwhile back in Italy, an artist was quietly building his oeuvre and teaching drawing in his hometown of Bologna. Giorgio Morandi, with his somber tonalist still lifes somehow managed to claim attention and achieve a reputation away from the clamor of Paris. He also earned rankings as the greatest modern painter in Italy and the master of the still life in the 20th century.
Influenced by the brooding, surrealist landscapes of Giorgio de Chirico, another Italian, Morandi did not entirely eschew tradition and his work is compared to Giotto, an early Renaissance painter much admired for his childlike simplicity. Morandi compositions, seemingly rudimentary arrangements of bottles and various containers, become monumental, evoking the architecture of medieval Bologna.
There is a saying in artistic composition that less is often more. Morandi certainly embraced this concept. With a neutral tonality, the lack of any overt technical gimmicks such as reflecting light or mirroring images, removing labels that would force attention, he gave us an almost pure form of abstraction. With his simple motifs, repeated tirelessly, a spiritual component overtakes the seemingly banal composition.
Visiting Italy and the vast quantity of Italian artwork, a quiet stop in Bologna may refresh the aesthetic sensibilities. At the Morandi Museum you will find nothing to puzzle over. With no history lessons to absorb, no technical feats to be in awe of, you will instead see with eye of a gifted artist, who offered a gentle message imbued with spirit. Read more about: Italian Artwork
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