May 02, 2019 - Sale 2507

Sale 2507 - Lot 348

Price Realized: $ 12,500
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 15,000 - $ 20,000
GIORGIO MORANDI
Natura morta a grandi segni.

Etching, 1931. 240x330 mm; 9 1/2x13 inches, full margins. Second state (of 3). Signed, dated and numbered 39/50 in pencil, lower margin. A very good impression of this extremely scarce etching.

The primary focus of Morandi's (1890-1964) oeuvre is simple, muted still lives. He taught himself the basics of printmaking in the early 1910s after admiring the work of Old Masters such as Rembrandt van Rijn and Francisco José de Goya. His etchings reflect his unique practice of hatching and cross-hatching to build form and volume, avoiding descriptive outlines. This, paired with the areas of bianco assoluto, or "absolute white," that he left in his etchings, created atmospheric, contemporaneous still lives. He taught etching at the Accademia de Belle Arti, Bologna from 1930-56, and during his career he completed some 1350 oil paintings and 133 etchings. Vitali 83.