Thursday, August 09, 2007

Metaphysical Arts


The Song of Love. Paris, June-July 1914.
By
Giorgio de Chirico
(Italian, born Greece. 1888-1978).
Oil on canvas

This painting brings together incongruous and unrelated objects: the head of a Classical Greek statue, an over sized rubber glove, a green ball, and a train shrouded in darkness, silhouetted against a bright blue sky. By subverting the logical presence of objects, de Chirico created what he termed "metaphysical" paintings, representations of what lies "beyond the physical" world. Cloaked in an atmosphere of anxiety and melancholy, de Chirico's humanoid forms, vacuous architecture, shadowy passages, and eerily elongated streets evoke the profound absurdity of a universe torn apart by World War I.



The Evil Genius of a King.
by
Giorgio de Chirico. Paris 1914-15.
Oil on canvas

Giorgio de Chirico was born to Italian parents in Volos Greece, on July 10, 1888. In 1900 he began studies at the Athens Polytechnic Institute and attended evening classes in drawing from the nude. De Chirico moved to Milan in 1909, to Florence in 1910, and to Paris in 1911. In Paris he was included in the Salon d'Automne in 1912 and 1913 and in the Salon des Indépendants in 1913 and 1914. Because of the war, in 1915 de Chirico returned to Italy, where he met Filippo de Pisis in 1916 and Carlo Carrà in 1917; they formed the group that was later called the Scuola Metafisica.


The Faithful Servitor.
By
Giorgio de Chirico. . 1916 or 1917.
Oil on canvas

The artist moved to Rome in 1918, and was given his first solo exhibition at the Casa d'Arte Bragaglia in that city in the winter of 1918–19. In this period he was one of the leaders of the Gruppo Valori Plastici, with whom he showed at the Nationalgalerie in Berlin. A solo exhibition of de Chirico's work was held at the Galleria Arte in Milan in 1921, and he participated in the Venice Biennale for the first time in 1924. In 1925 the artist returned to Paris, where he exhibited that year at Léonce Rosenberg's Galerie l'Effort Moderne. In Paris his work was shown at the Galerie Paul Guillaume in 1926 and 1927 and at the Galerie Jeanne Bucher in 1927.


Great Metaphysical Interior
By
Giorgio de Chirico.
Ferrara, April-August 1917.
Oil on canvas



In 1928 he was given solo shows at the Arthur Tooth Gallery in London and the Valentine Gallery in New York. In 1929 de Chirico designed scenery and costumes for Sergei Diaghilev's poduction of the ballet Le Bal, and his book Hebdomeros was published. The artist designed for the ballet and opera in subsequent years, and continued to exhibit in Europe, the United States, Canada, and Japan. In 1945 the first part of his book Memorie della mia vita appeared. De Chirico died on November 20, 1978, in Rome, his residence for over thirty years.

I am exhausted and in need of a bubble bath, good night everyone!

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N Posted by Rain at 8/09/2007 08:02:00 PM

4 Comments

  • Blogger tomshideaway posted at 4:01 AM  
    Never saw his work before, very cool. Almost could say he inspired those "Find the 10 objects that dom't belong" Puzzles.

  • Anonymous Anonymous posted at 6:26 AM  
    Very interesting art works you have picked here.

  • Anonymous Anonymous posted at 1:32 AM  
    he certainly does have an interesting perspective. I like "Great Metaphysical Interior"

  • Blogger Handsome B. Wonderful posted at 5:52 PM  
    Reminds me of the Surrealism that I like to paint and enjoy. My favorite Surrealist painting being Salvador Dali. And, well, he's my favorite painter all in all too.

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