Giorgio Morandi

J. J. Mayers, Bronxville, New York (acquired by 1957)
Galleria Falsetti, Prato
Galleria Gissi, Turin
N. Mobilio, Florence
Private Collection, Milan
Private Collection, Switzerland

New York, World House Galleries, Giorgio Morandi, Retrospective 1912-1957, 1957, no. 2
Cortina d'Ampezzo, Centro d'Arte Dolomiti, Omaggio a Giorgio Morandi, 1969-70, n.n., illustrated in the catalogue

Lamberto Vitali, Morandi, Dipinti, Catalogo generale, vol. I, Milan, 1983, no. 468, illustrated n.p.

Canvas is unlined. Surface is clean with the exception of a few tiny surface stains at center near top edge. Under UV light some scattered pindots of retouchng fluoresce, primarily around the extreme perimeter, otherwise fine. This work is in very good condition.
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Known first and foremost as a painter of still lifes, Giorgio Morandi also had a strong affinity for landscape painting, exploring the genre intensely during several periods of his career. He generally depicted the countryside around Bologna, specifically around Grizzana, a small town where he spent his summers and retreated during World War II. The present work was painted in 1943 and is a perfectly executed example of the artist’s supreme faithfulness to light, shadow and his characteristically monochrome palate, all of which contribute to a prevailing sense of tranquility. Compositionally similar to many of his still lifes, Paesaggio explores the spatial relationship between two central structures and the surrounding foliage, foreground and hazy distance. In both landscape and still life, Morandi was always guided by his concern to bring together space, light, color and form, and his great achievement was to reconcile traditional genres with the abstract aesthetic of his own time.

In the present work, the two farm buildings are arranged with great precision to achieve spatial equilibrium, and have been set against a simple background which is rendered in Morandi's typically subtle and subdued blocks of neutral color. Morandi has depicted the scene with the same unique quality of light that defines so many of his still lifes. He manages to capture the essence of the landscape with a timeless and profoundly affecting quality for which his work is celebrated. The deliberate play between what is known and what can only be guessed at is at the heart of Morandi's fascination with the visible world.

Morandi was arguably the most successful Italian painter of his generation and, like other painters of the period, he looked at the Italian art of the early Renaissance with fresh eyes, simultaneously conscious of the legacy of tradition as well as the regional and rustic aspects of his Italian cultural heritage. Additionally vital was the legacy of Paul Cézanne, whose intense focus on reality and individual way of seeing encouraged Morandi to discover the simple geometric solidity of everyday objects and spaces. By pursuing an aesthetic beyond the limitations of place and time, Morandi became heir to a "classical" purist tradition of Italian painting. As is evident in in Paesaggio, Morandi’s powerful compositions blend traditional genres of painting with a thoroughly modern aesthetic.