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Friday, August 13, 2010

Giorgio Morandi et l'abstraction du réel - Hotêl des Arts (Toulon, France)



Located in Toulon, France, the Hôtel des Arts exhibits a selection of over 40 works by Giorgio Morandi.
Curated by Laura Mattioli, the exhibition includes drawings, engravings, oils and watercolours, with a special focus on flowers arrangements, where is noticeable the importance of geometry in his compositions. Morandi used to say "la geómetrie explique presque tout".
The exhibition invites the visitor to apprehend how the artist captured reality through the abstraction of its elements.

Born in Bologne, 1890, Giorgio Morandi is influenced by Cézanne and has great admiration for Chardin, Giotto, Piero della Francesca, Paolo Uccello and Masaccio.
His paintings, which can be considered as reality with strokes of abstraction, often show a limited palette of natural colours based on beiges and ochres, presenting earthy tones.
Between 1907 and 1913 he studies at the Academie of Fine Arts (Bologna) and in 1910 he sets an atelier in his apartment in la via Fondazza, 36, where he lives with his mother and three sisters, Anna, Dina and Maria Teresa.
During the Summer they would stay in Grizzana, in the Apennins.
Morandi had lost his brother Giuseppe in 1902 and his father in 1909, but his mother made all the efforts to make sure that he'd have a propper education and Morandi proved to be up to expectations.
Later in 1926, one of his paintings is acquired by Mussolini at the Primo Novecento Exhibition (Milan) and in the same year, around ten prints are bought by the state when of the Venice Biennial.
In 1930 Morandi is appointed professor of the Fine Arts Academie of Bologna, a post that he exercises until 1956.
One year later, in 1931, he's part of the comite of the Quadriennale of National Art in Rome and in 1939 (third quadriennale) he sees fifty of this works exhibited and wins the second prize.
Giorgio Morandi wins the first prize in the Venice Biennale of 1948 and in 1951 he exhibits in the first Biennial of S. Paulo (Brazil), winning the first prize in the IV one.
He passed away on the 18th of June, 1964, in the city of Bologna.
The Giorgio Morandi et l'abstraction do réel exhibition (watch a video) can be visited until September 26, 2010, from Tuesday through Sunday (except holidays) between 10h00 and 18h00.
Admitance is free.

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