Sean Scully's 2005 Essay on Giorgio Morandi's Defiant Isolation Published in Artcritical
In 2005, Sean Scully penned an essay about Giorgio Morandi, published in artcritical, which aligns with the Metropolitan Museum of Art's exhibition in 2008. Morandi, who was born in Bologna in 1890, attended the Accademia di Belle Arti from 1907 to 1915 and spent most of his life with his sisters, traveling infrequently except for a trip to Winterthur in 1956. Scully reminisces about Morandi's modest paintings showcased at London's Tate Gallery, which stood apart from modernist movements by emphasizing simple still lifes. Following a personal crisis after his conscription in 1915, Morandi retreated into teaching and private art. Unlike peers such as Jackson Pollock, he created in solitude, drawing inspiration from Cézanne. He passed away in Bologna in 1964, leaving behind a legacy marked by quiet resilience.
Key facts
- Giorgio Morandi was born in Bologna in 1890 and died there in 1964.
- He studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti from 1907 to 1915.
- Morandi lived with his three sisters, Anna, Dina, and Maria Teresa, at Via Fordazza 36 and in Grizzana.
- His only trip abroad was in 1956 to Winterthur for an exhibition opening.
- Morandi was conscripted in 1915, suffered a nervous breakdown, and withdrew into teaching.
- His work resisted modernist trends like Abstract Expressionism, focusing on small-scale still lifes.
- Sean Scully's essay was first published in 2006 and reproduced in artcritical in 2008.
- The essay coincides with the Metropolitan Museum of Art's 2008 exhibition on Morandi.
Entities
Artists
- Giorgio Morandi
- Sean Scully
- Claude Monet
- Paul Cézanne
- Willem De Kooning
- Jackson Pollock
- Lee Krasner
- Robert Motherwell
- Barnett Newman
- Yves Klein
- Pierre Soulages
- Emil Schumacher
- Antoni Tàpies
- Clement Greenberg
- Irving Sandler
- Thomas B. Hess
- Peggy Guggenheim
- Masaccio
- Umberto Boccioni
- Gino Severini
- Giacomo Balla
- Olga Rozanova
- Kazimir Malevich
- Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin
- Édouard Manet
- Robert Irwin
Institutions
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Accademia di Belle Arti
- Tate Gallery
- Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna
- University of Iowa Museum of Art
- Merrell
- artcritical
Locations
- Bologna
- Italy
- Via Fordazza 36
- Grizzana
- Venice
- Winterthur
- Switzerland
- Paris
- France
- New York
- United States
- London
- United Kingdom
- Rome
- Florence