"There are painters for whom etchings represent a second, almost marginal technique, a way to go on vacation from painting : but for others, etching becomes the focus itself of the pictorial form. If among these last ones Rembrandt was the prince, it is among them that Morandi lies too". These are the words of Cesare Brandi, friend and collector of Morandi, to who he dedicates an essay already in 1942. It is to the etchings of the great Bolognese Master that Galleria Maggiore dedicates an exhibition with over forty works made between 1912 and 1961.
The transfiguration of "the visible" - as Morandi loved to say - in the two-tone of black and white and in the variations of the chiaroscuro find a confirmation of his pictorial world: it was Morandi himself during 1927 Venice Biennale to want to display more etching than paintings and to later accept the job as teacher of etchings in the academy of his city. For him, engraving was a language: this is demonstrated by his talent with etchings and the use of burin, a thin chisel with an inox tip, which doesn't accept any rethinking and imposes a zen discipline.
The transfiguration of "the visible" - as Morandi loved to say - in the two-tone of black and white and in the variations of the chiaroscuro find a confirmation of his pictorial world: it was Morandi himself during 1927 Venice Biennale to want to display more etching than paintings and to later accept the job as teacher of etchings in the academy of his city. For him, engraving was a language: this is demonstrated by his talent with etchings and the use of burin, a thin chisel with an inox tip, which doesn't accept any rethinking and imposes a zen discipline.
Giorgio Morandi, The reasons for the shape. Etchings 1912-1961. Galleria d'Arte Maggiore, until February 5.
