- 361
Giorgio Morandi
Estimate
350,000 - 500,000 GBP
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Description
- Natura morta (Still life)
- signed Morandi (upper right)
- oil on canvas
- 25.3 by 40cm., 10 by 15 3/4 in.
Provenance
Gaspari Collection, Venice
Private Collection, Venice
Thence by descent to the present owner
Private Collection, Venice
Thence by descent to the present owner
Literature
Lamberto Vitali, Morandi, Dipinti, Catalogo generale, Milan, 1977, vol. I, no. 587, illustrated n.p.
Condition
The canvas is not lined. UV examination reveals a tiny spot of retouching to the extreme upper right corner which does not interfere with the signature. There are some faint stretcher bar marks along the left and right edges and a more prominent horizontal bar mark along the lower edge, about 4cm in from the frame rebate. There are a few very fine lines of craquelure in places and a minute paint loss to the central white bottle. Otherwise, this work is in overall good condition.
Colours: fairly accurate in the printed catalogue, though the pink tones are less prominent in the background in the original.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
The present work is an exceptional example of Giorgio Morandi's lifelong exploration of the still life genre. The artist's dedication to such a limited subject gives his œuvre a sincerity and gravity, which invites comparison with that other modern master, Alberto Giacometti. Though Giacometti's focus was the figure, and Morandi's the object, they are bound by their inexhaustible commitment to their chosen subject matter and their 'search for the absolute'.
Morandi's œuvre introduces us to a world where silence reigns and time is suspended. There is an overwhelming universality to his work: these bottles, pitchers and jars are containers that have been used since time began. Marilena Pasquali has argued that 'time in Morandi is a primary, ineluctable dimension: it is duration, first and foremost, and then invention, gamble, daring. In the reality of phenomena, he seeks the lasting, the unchanging, the illusion of an immobile time. Change, continuous and unstoppable, is in him knowingly as he reflects himself in the object in his studio, making them each time different because it is he, instant by instant, who is different and thus sees what is in front of him with new eyes' (quoted in Giorgio Morandi, Through Light (exhibition catalogue), Imago Art Gallery, London, 2009, p. 22).
In Natura morta, Morandi has expanded his muted palette of whites and greys, to explore the impact of red and blue on the tonal relationships. The painting retains the artist's characteristically understated character, but the variety of form and colour render it one of his more ambitious works. The five forms huddle together, each container enjoying its own unique relationship with the other. They seem to protect one another: Morandi has carefully orchestrated a temporary family of form, to be rearranged for countless future compositions, but immortalised in the present work. To dismiss these forms as inanimate would be to disregard Morandi's gift for putting 'the man into things, filling them with a tension and a lifeblood that makes them vibrate to the touch of that cool fire that lights them up from inside. And the studio is transmuted into an experimental laboratory in which highly sensitive seismographs, Morandi's "antennae", register every slightest variation in arrangement and interior atmosphere' (ibid.,p. 22).
Morandi's œuvre introduces us to a world where silence reigns and time is suspended. There is an overwhelming universality to his work: these bottles, pitchers and jars are containers that have been used since time began. Marilena Pasquali has argued that 'time in Morandi is a primary, ineluctable dimension: it is duration, first and foremost, and then invention, gamble, daring. In the reality of phenomena, he seeks the lasting, the unchanging, the illusion of an immobile time. Change, continuous and unstoppable, is in him knowingly as he reflects himself in the object in his studio, making them each time different because it is he, instant by instant, who is different and thus sees what is in front of him with new eyes' (quoted in Giorgio Morandi, Through Light (exhibition catalogue), Imago Art Gallery, London, 2009, p. 22).
In Natura morta, Morandi has expanded his muted palette of whites and greys, to explore the impact of red and blue on the tonal relationships. The painting retains the artist's characteristically understated character, but the variety of form and colour render it one of his more ambitious works. The five forms huddle together, each container enjoying its own unique relationship with the other. They seem to protect one another: Morandi has carefully orchestrated a temporary family of form, to be rearranged for countless future compositions, but immortalised in the present work. To dismiss these forms as inanimate would be to disregard Morandi's gift for putting 'the man into things, filling them with a tension and a lifeblood that makes them vibrate to the touch of that cool fire that lights them up from inside. And the studio is transmuted into an experimental laboratory in which highly sensitive seismographs, Morandi's "antennae", register every slightest variation in arrangement and interior atmosphere' (ibid.,p. 22).
Much has been made of the meditative character of Morandi's paintings, the antidote to the speed and vertigo-inducing works of his Italian Futurist contemporaries.The present work is a masterpiece in stillness, an iconic example of Morandi's extraordinarily nuanced and important artistic project.