Morandi painted this Natura morta in 1940, employing a canvasstretched into an oval shape, the second and final work of thisrare kind in his entire oeuvre. The previous picture in this formatis a tabletop arrangement of various vessels he completed in 1919(Vitale, no. 50). The present oval canvas evokes a self-contained,protected, and orderly environment, in which the artist’sstate-of-mind, like the manner in which he depicted these objects,each of them long familiar and meaningful to him, seems calmlycentered and whole, far removed from the turmoil of the outsideworld. These peaceable qualities would prove most comforting in theyears that immediately followed.
Whether this still-life was painted before or after 10 June1940, we do not know—on that fateful day Italy entered the SecondWorld War as the Axis ally of Nazi Germany. Within weeks, variouscities in the north were subjected to British air raids. Bologna,where the artist lived his entire life, was an important railwayhub that beginning in 1943 endured heavy Allied bombing. The artistsought safety in the countryside at Grizzana, where he occupiedhimself by painting some of the finest landscapes of his career. Itis difficult to find tell-tale signs of the war in the domestictranquility of his still-life subjects, except by way of contrast.These pictures, filled with a humble and unassuming humanity, sosomber, silent and contemplative, stand as the very antithesis tothe spreading horror and chaos everywhere aroundhim.
乔治·莫兰迪 静物 局部
The gentle character of Morandi’s work could indeed provide abalm for the troubled spirit, as the critic Giuseppi Marchiorirecalled in 1963: “During the tragedy of conflict and oppression wewere consoled in our sorrow by the thought of the man in a room onthe Via Fondazza…Morandi was in all probability painting a pictureof bottles, lamps and dusty boxes. Amid the clamor of war hissilent and lonely steadfastness was a bulwark; it was a nobleprotest of the man [who was] ‘the most out of step’ in the world”(quoted in J. Abramowicz, Giorgio Morandi: The Art of Silence, NewHaven, 2004, p. 165).
乔治·莫兰迪 静物 局部
Like the many Italian writers, composers, and artists whorefrained from outwardly resisting Mussolini’s Fascist state,Morandi benefited from the government’s extensive patronage of thearts. In 1930 his growing reputation as a painter and printmakerwon him the professor’s chair in etching at the Bologna Accademiadi Belle Arti, a position he held until his retirement in 1956. Heexhibited paintings in the Venice Biennales of 1930 and 1934;following the latter event the critic Roberto Longhi praised him as“one of the best Italian painters alive” (quoted in Morandi, exh.cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2008, p. 361).Morandi participated in the Rome Quadriennales of 1931 and 1935,and was given a personal room to show fifty works in the 1939Quadriennale, where he won the second prize for painting.
乔治·莫兰迪 静物 局部
This award drew criticism from the Fascist party. Morandi’smundane still-life subjects and his seemingly withdrawn, privatestance did not suit their program of La Romanità—the chest-beatingemulation of ancient Rome—nor the image of Mussolini’s “The NewMan” and other espoused public ideals. Morandi was also accused ofoverlooking nationalistic values while continuing to allow into hiswork corrupting foreign influences; Morandi would always proudlydeclare his admiration for the Frenchman Cézanne. Nor would theFascists forget his participation as a young man in the modernistValori Plastici group. The critic Giovanni Scheiwiller, in amonograph on Morandi published in 1943, responded: “A still lifecan move us because of its intrinsic qualities, for its emotionalintensity and for inexplicable mysterious reasons…His worksdocument the triumph of the spirit over materialism…Morandi is oneof the few privileged [artists] with the capacity to producepaintings of pure poetry” (quoted in J. Abramowicz, op. cit., 2004,p. 176).
The Ministry of Education, Morandi’s official employer,included him in their large inaugural exhibition of contemporaryart held in 1941, intended to advertise the “eternal vitality ofthe genius of our Italian race” (quoted in ibid., p. 177). In hisreview of the show, Attilio Crespi lauded Morandi’s “aristocraticreserve, his ability to ennoble the most humble and silent ofmodels…giving a solemn dignity to his paintings of objects thatMorandi elevated to the stature of symbols” (quoted inibid.).
乔治·莫兰迪 静物 局部
The oval shape of the 1919 Natura morta may have beenoccasioned by the end of the First World War, as a gesturewelcoming the return of peace. The reappearance of this format inthe present painting may have held a prayer for the same in 1940.Between 1942 and 1946, Morandi employed a tondo (circular) surroundwithin a square sheet to contain the tabletop motifs in fourstill-life etchings (Vitale, nos. 109-111 and 113). In the etchedcomposition Natura morta in un ovale, circa 1942, Morandi used anelliptical shape as a window through which the viewer peers into anunusual close-up of his chosen objects (Vitale, no. 130). Morandi’sinterest in the oval format also reflects the table in this shapethat he built and kept in his studio as prop for his still-lifes,the curved edge of which appears in numerouscompositions.
乔治·莫兰迪 静物 局部
“We had bought a number of contemporary Italian paintings in1959 from the Galleria dell’Obelisco in Rome [including works byCampigli and Muši],” David Rockefeller wrote. “Alfred Barr wasaware of our interest in them and brought to our attention this‘Still Life’, which he had known about through Lamberto Vitale. Wehad seen two Morandis that my brother Nelson had in his house inWashington and had always liked them; thus we were pleased to beable to acquire this work, with its unusual oval shape” (M. Potteret al., op. cit., 1984, p. 321).
作者 乔治·莫兰迪（1890～1964）
尺寸 椭圆37.5×50cm
质地 油彩 畫布 裱於纖維板
作品分类 西画雕塑>油画
创作年代 1940年作
估价 USD 2,000,000-3,000,000
成交价 RMB 27,312,080 USD 4,332,500
专场 佩吉及大卫洛克菲勒夫妇珍藏：十九及二十世纪（晚间拍卖）
拍卖时间 2018-05-08
拍卖公司 佳士得纽约有限公司
拍卖会 2018年5月拍卖会
签名、日期及题识：Morandi 1940（中下）
来源
1961年11月8日，米兰布雷拉画廊匿名拍卖，拍品编号42
已故藏家购自上述拍卖
G. Ungaretti著《Pittori italianicontemporanei》，博洛尼亞，1950年，第38頁，編號38（插圖）
L. Vitali著《Morandi: Catalogo generale,1913-1947》，第1冊，米蘭，1977年，編號260（插圖）
M.Potter等著《The David and Peggy Rockefeller Collection:European Works of Art》，第1冊，紐約，1984年，第47及321頁，編號141（彩色插圖）
E. Tavoni著《Morandi: Disegni, catalogogenerale》，米蘭，1994年，第63頁
L. Vitali著《Morandi: Dipinti, catalogo generale,1913-1947》，第1冊，米蘭，1994年，編號260（插圖）
