Giorgio Morandi: A Retrospective

Devotional and tranquil, the art of Giorgio Morandi (1890–1964) celebrates the virtues of patience, serenity and modesty. Many of Morandi’s still lifes, landscapes and flowers are based on earlier compositions that he continually revisited, often across media (painting, watercolor, etching). This handsome overview beautifully elucidates the artist’s humble repertoire of themes, showing (when possible) where they originated, and how they were reprised across the course of his career. The careful selection of works, derived from some of Europe’s most prestigious institutions, museums and private collections and including some rarely or never-before seen works, are augmented by Jean-Michel Folon’s little-seen series of photographs from Morandi’s studio taken in 1977; texts by legendary poet Yves Bonnefoy, Joost Zwagerman and Francesco Galluzzi; and a section on Morandi’s influence. The artist’s heroic questing for purity have won him many fans: in film, Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni, Robert Aldrich and Luca Guadagnino; in literature, Paul Auster, Don DeLillo and Siri Hustvedt; and in contemporary art, Lawrence Carroll, Tacita Dean and Luc Tuymans. Works by all of these Morandi admirers are included here. The book is edited by Morandi specialist Maria Cristina Bandera, head of the Fondazione Roberto Longhi in Florence.