Giorgio Morandi

Estimate

350,000 - 450,000 GBP

bidding is closed

Description

NATURA MORTA
signed Morandi (lower right)
oil on canvas
37.5 by 45cm.
14 3/4 by 17 3/4 in.

Provenance

Galleria del Milione, Milan
World House Galleries, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1960

Exhibited

New York, World House Galleries, Giorgio Morandi Retrospective: Paintings, Drawings, Etchings, 1912-1957, 1957, no. 32, illustrated in colour in the cataogue
Berkeley, University of California, University Art Museum, Excellence: Art from the University Community, 1970-71
San Francisco, Museum of Art & New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Giorgio Morandi, 1981, no. 52

Literature

Lamberto Vitali, Giorgio Morandi, Pittore, Milan, 1965, no. 212, illustrated
Lamberto Vitali, Morandi, Dipinti. Catalogo Generale, volume secondo, 1948-1964, Milan, 1994, no. 999, illustrated

Catalogue Note

Painted in 1956, Natura morta is a brilliant example of Morandi's favourite theme, that of jugs, bottles and bowls arranged on a tabletop. The theme of still-life, which remained central to his art throughout Morandi's career, was always guided by his concern to bring together space, light, colour and form, and his great achievement was to reconcile this traditional genre with the abstract aesthetic of his own time. Focusing his artistic efforts on a limited range of subjects, he was able to perfect these pictorial concerns to their purest expression.

The present work depicts a dynamic ensemble of objects that vary in size, shape, design and finish. The play of light and shadow between the objects emphasises their three-dimensionality, a departure from Morandi's more abstract works of this period. While the painting displays a subtle colouration characteristic of the artist's still-lifes, the warm pink tone of the background stands in contrast with the typically monochromatic palette of most of his paintings. In contrast to the austere, highly geometrical style of Morandi's later still-lifes, the present Natura morta displays a rich and dynamic composition, combining the verticality of the jugs and bottles with the soft, rounded shapes of the bowls, as well as with the strong diagonals of the shadows. The sense of classical beauty and harmony in the present work is derived from the elegance and stone-like colouration of the objects, which is amplified by the curves and flutes of the two objects to the right, reminiscent of ancient Greek columns.

Fig. 1, Morandi's studio