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.
Quietly working in a studio in his hometown of Bologna, Italy, Giorgio Morandi, while watching the trends in Paris from afar, avoided the clamor. While managing to earn a reputation as a modern master and the foremost still life painter of the 20th century, he worked in solitude.
Morandi was influenced by another countryman, Giorgio de Chirico, with his surrealist, metaphysical landscapes. He has also been compared to the pre-Renaissance Giotto, known for simple designs and innocent narratives. Morandi, with his commonplace still life compositions, devoid of embellishment or bombastic narrative follows in the footsteps of Giotto in mood if not in narrative.
The adage less is more is the mainstay of the Morandi conceptual framework. With a muted hue structure, a lack of technical trickery such as reflections and special effects, his bottles are reduced to straightforwardness. With no personal significance given to his objects, he reduces the work further into abstraction. With all narrative removed, we are left with an entrenched spiritual component.
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.
Quietly working in a studio in his hometown of Bologna, Italy, Giorgio Morandi, while watching the trends in Paris from afar, avoided the clamor. While managing to earn a reputation as a modern master and the foremost still life painter of the 20th century, he worked in solitude.
Morandi was influenced by another countryman, Giorgio de Chirico, with his surrealist, metaphysical landscapes. He has also been compared to the pre-Renaissance Giotto, known for simple designs and innocent narratives. Morandi, with his commonplace still life compositions, devoid of embellishment or bombastic narrative follows in the footsteps of Giotto in mood if not in narrative.
The adage less is more is the mainstay of the Morandi conceptual framework. With a muted hue structure, a lack of technical trickery such as reflections and special effects, his bottles are reduced to straightforwardness. With no personal significance given to his objects, he reduces the work further into abstraction. With all narrative removed, we are left with an entrenched spiritual component.
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
No comments:
Post a Comment