Book Description

Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964), an Italian painter and printmaker renowned for his simple yet stunning still lifes, is also famous for his legendary reputation as a recluse, an artist who resided in a world bound by the walls of his Bologna studio. Giorgio Morandi: The Art of Silence dispels this myth and is the first and only study in English to cover Morandi's career in its entirety as well as in the sociopolitical and cultural context of Italian art.

Janet Abramowicz, Morandi's former teaching assistant, takes the reader through half a century of Italian art history and its most significant movements-Futurism, Pittura Metafisica, Valori Plastici, Strapaese, Novecento-most of which have received scant attention from English-language scholars. Abramowicz shows how Morandi worked in close proximity to mainstream contemporary European art and tells the story of his relationship to the Fascist politics and patrons of his time, illustrating how his connections to this period were muted after the fall of the regime in post-World War II Italy in an effort to establish the artist as apolitical. Morandi was the only Italian modernist to emerge from Fascism unscathed.

An important new addition to scholarship on twentieth-century Italian art history, this book features many rare and previously unpublished images and will fascinate admirers of Morandi and his transcendent work.

Book Description

Reviews (2)

My oldest possession.
It's true, this book is my oldest possession, from an earlier printing, I've had this book since the early 70's. If you are a painter and want to learn how to put space and light into your work then this book is your greatest resource and greatest challenge. For those in the know, Morandi is THE ONE for creating a palpable space in two demensions. The space shimmers and moves - it's real!

Excellent book
The prints are excellent - both in terms of variety and quality of print. I use them in classes and they are really a treasure. The text is very readable and enjoyable as well (though I care more about the print quality). ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Colour Reproductions disappoint
The colour reproductions of Morandi's oil Paintings are very disappointing. The prints didn't "live " at all and have lost the subtlety of colour that characterises Morandi's work. There is little or no depth to the colour. Morandi's deep toned accents suffer and appear thin. Those marvellous flashes of apricot/orange are maddenly deadened. There is often an overbalance of a greenish ochre in the colour print. The textural quality of Morandi's brushwork is curiously flattened and lifeless.

Fortunately the Watercolours, drawings and etchings have not suffered to the same extent: although I cannot believe the grey cast that is given to what must have frequently been a variety of white papers.

Good text. Informative photographs but overall a disappointing purchase - especially in NZ dollars.

The best Morandi title under $200.00
The great strength of this book is its inclusive nature and the quality of printing. Morandi, like many painters, worked out in drawing what would he would find later in the paintings, his best known medium. There are enough water-colors and etchings to enhance the understanding of his paintings by featuring his interests in color and tone in the former, shape and tonal areas in the latter. All these and clearer reproduction (especially of brush strokes, surface textures) make it a better buy than the also useful K. Wilkin book on Morandi. Morandi fans won't mind owning both books; even among the paintings there is not great overlap in particular works. Where there is a double, the differences help remind you of the limitations of reproductions, no matter what book they're in. (PS the Morandi Museum in Bologna, Italy is worth a trip to that city in itself.)

The Reader's Digest Version
If you have had the opportunity to see the (out-of-print) show catalogue (Giorgio Morandi: [catalogue of] an exhibition of paintings, water-colours, drawings and etchings) this skimpy overview will not only disappoint, it also will not whet your appetite for more of this insightful artist's oeuvre. ... Read more

Book Description

This digital document is an article from New Criterion, published by Foundation for Cultural Review on February 1, 2002. The length of the article is 4007 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Paris in winter: thank heaven for Morandi. (Art).
Author: Karen Wilkin
Publication: New Criterion (Magazine/Journal)
Date: February 1, 2002
Publisher: Foundation for Cultural Review
Volume: 20Issue: 6Page: 40(8)

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Sarasota Herald Tribune, published by Sarasota Herald-Tribune on February 26, 2000. The length of the article is 722 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Judge clears former lawman in case; Former Charlotte County detective Rick Morandi didn't cause a Sept. 14 fatal accident.(B SECTION)
Author: Jim Waymer
Publication: Sarasota Herald Tribune (Newspaper)
Date: February 26, 2000
Publisher: Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Page: 1B

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from New Statesman (1996), published by New Statesman, Ltd. on July 2, 2001. The length of the article is 7322 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Flawed perfection.(Giorgio Morandi's art discussed)(Brief Article)
Author: Giorgio Morandi
Publication: New Statesman (1996) (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 2, 2001
Publisher: New Statesman, Ltd.
Volume: 130Issue: 4544Page: 46

Article Type: Brief Article

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Epoca, published by Difusora de Informacion Periodica, S.A. (DINPESA) on June 28, 1999. The length of the article is 596 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Giorgio Morandi: bodegones ntimos.(exposiciones; Museo Thyssen; Museo Esteban Vicente; Espaa)(TT: Giorgio Morandi: intimate still-lifes.)(TA: exhibitions; Thyssen Museum; Esteban Vicente Museum; Spain)(Artculo Breve)
Publication: Epoca (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 28, 1999
Publisher: Difusora de Informacion Periodica, S.A. (DINPESA)
Page: 68

Article Type: Artculo Breve

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Book Description

One year before Galileo's, another trial was the talk of Rome. The city's most notorious astrologer--Orazio Morandi, abbot of the monastery of Santa Prassede--was brought before the governor's court on charges of possessing prohibited books, fortune telling, and political chicanery. His most serious crime was to have predicted the death of Pope Urban VIII and allowed news of this to spread as far as Spain, where cardinals quickly embarked for Italy to attend a conclave that would not occur for fourteen years. The pope, furious at such astrological and political effrontery, personally ordered the criminal inquiry that led to Morandi's arrest, trial, and death in prison, probably by assassination.

Based on new evidence, this book chronicles Morandi's fabulous rise and fall against the backdrop of enormous political and cultural turmoil that characterized Italy in the early seventeenth century. It documents a world in which occult knowledge commanded power, reveals widespread libertinism behind monastery walls, and illuminates the arduous metamorphosis of intellectual culture already underway. It also sets the stage for, and lends new understanding to, the trial of Galileo that would follow shortly.

The mystery of Morandi concerns the basic compulsion to advance in a status-drenched society and the very nature of knowledge at the birth of science. Told here in colorful detail, Morandi's story is fascinating in its own right. Beyond that, it allows us to glimpse the underside of early modern high society as never before. ... Read more