“Small Still Life with Three Objects” by Giorgio Morandi, dated 1961, depicts three objects arranged on a tabletop, rendered through a dense and controlled engraved line. However, as is typical of Morandi’s poetics, the elements are not described analytically but rather synthesised into essential volumes, devoid of narrative references. Furthermore, the use of light and shadow is entrusted to a network of cross-hatching, which gradually and quietly constructs the space.
From a technical standpoint, the etching demonstrates the artist’s full maturity in printmaking. Indeed, during the final decades of his career, Morandi used engraving as an autonomous field of research, parallel to painting. As a result, the relationship between solids and voids, as well as the arrangement of the objects, becomes an exercise in formal balance.
Morandi, a central figure in twentieth-century Italian art, devoted much of his production to the theme of the still life, explored as a mental rather than descriptive space. In particular, in the works of the 1960s, his language became even more reduced and essential. Therefore, “Small Still Life with Three Objects” represents a coherent example of Giorgio Morandi’s poetics, in which everyday observation is transformed into a rigorous reflection on form, time, and perception.
Description: Etching on paper, signed and dated lower centre “Morandi 1961”, edition number 50/100 lower left, bearing on the reverse the stamp of the Zaccardi Collection, Bologna, H cm 12.3×15.7.
Publications: L. Vitali, “The Graphic Work of Giorgio Morandi”, Turin, Einaudi, 1989, fig. number 131.
Provenance: private Zaccardi Collection, Bologna.
Hammer Price: € 8.750,00
Auction 73 – June 25th 2024 – Modern and contemporary art
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