Realism
www.mambo-bologna.org

1890
Giorgio Morandi was born of Andrea and Maria Maccaferri in Bologna on 20 July 1890. He was the first of five children: in addition to his brother Giuseppe, who died in 1909 at age of eleven, he had three sisters to whom he was very close throughout his life: Anna, Dina and Maria Teresa. In 1906 the young man went to work at his father's business office, but his artistic tendency led him to enroll in the Bologna Academy of Fine Arts the following year, where he began with introductory-level courses and then continued with specialty Courses in

1909. His classmates included Osvaldo Licini and Severo Pozzati.

1912
While his scholastic record is excellent until 1911, his last two years (until October 1913, when he received his Academy diploma) were fraught with conflicts with his professors due to the young artist's changing interests: he has already identified his own artistic language, and created works such as Paesaggio of 1910, the Vitali Paesaggio of 1911 and Ritratto della sorella in 1912.

These are essential years for Morandi's artistic development, when he sees the first reproductions of works by Cézanne, visits the Biennale in Venice (1909-1910), makes a "memorable" trip to Florence and Arezzo to see Giotto, Masaccio, Paolo Uccello and Piero della Francesca (1910), and visits the Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition of the Union of Italy in Rome (1911). On his first trip with his family to Grizzana, in 1913, he paints a series of summer landscapes where a Cézanne-like approach is combined with his interest in new styles of analysis of space and form. In the spring of 1913 it appears that he attended the futurist evening in Modena, and on 12 December he was at the Teatro Verdi in Florence, where another "great futurist evening" was held. In September he receives the manuscript for I racconti di Bruto from Licini, openly provocative passages in both content and form, which the young author offers for the futurist publication Lacerba. At the end of the year Morandi meets Riccardo and Mario Bacchelli, sons of the lawyer Giuseppe, with whom he becomes close friends, and who will introduce him to Giuseppe Raimondi in 1916. In January 1914 the young man visits the Esposizione di Pittura libera Futurista, organized by Lacerba in Florence, which displays Stati d'animo by Boccioni, Galleria di Milano and Ritmi e Oggetti by Carrà, eighteen works by Soffici and paintings by Severini and Russolo.

1914
An exhibition of five artists was held at the newly inaugurated Hotel Baglioni in Bologna on 21 and 22 March 1914, later considered by critics to be a "crucial" moment in artistic development, not only locally: in addition to Morandi, who exhibits thirteen canvases and four drawings, there are works on display by Osvaldo Licini, Mario Bacchelli, Giacomo Vespignani and Severo Pozzati. In the spring of 1914, Morandi was present at both the first Free Futurist Exhibition, organized in April-May by the Galleria Sprovieri in Rome (a Natura morta di vetri and one drawing) and the second Roman Secession (Paesaggio di neve, 1913). Morandi begins his teaching career when the City of Bologna hires him to teach drawing at the elementary schools, which he continues until 1929. In 1915 he is called to arms and assigned to the second Grenadier Regiment stationed in Parma. He becomes seriously ill after a month and a half, he is admitted to the local military hospital, then finally sent home and discharged. After a period of personal crisis and reflection, in 1918 Morandi sees a few reproductions of paintings by De Chirico and Carrà in "La Raccolta" by Giuseppe Raimondi, and begins painting metaphysical works according to his own, highly personal poetic interpretation. This leads to a dozen still lifes, painted over a year and a half, that are at the peak of painting history in their "impenetrable integrity like a celestial body" (Brandi, 1942). After a journey to Rome in August of 1919 to visit his friend Raimondi and meet de Chirico and the literati of La Ronda in person, on 26 December Morandi stipulates a contract with the Roman artist and publisher Mario Broglio, committing him to work only with the "Valori Plastici" group.

1921
In 1921 the Bologna artist will participate in the travelling exhibition in Germany with a conspicuous presence of 19 paintings, watercolours and engravings; the following year he appears at the Fiorentina Primaverile with a text by Giorgio de Chirico, to whom he owes the fortunate definition of "metaphysics of the most ordinary items". After his years of youthful enthusiasm and lively participation in the more advanced debate on Italian art compared to the rest of Europe, beginning in 1920 -ending his metaphysical experience and having meditated on Cézanne's painting at the Venice Biennale- Morandi appears to distance himself from the chronicles of art to dedicate his poetic heritage and many aspects of expression to his own interior. >From now on, biographical data are scarce: a participation in the two exhibitions of Il Novecento Italiano (Milan, 1926 and 1929), his approach to the groups Il Selvaggio and L'Italiano of Mino Maccari and Leo Longanesi (1926-1932), his invitations to the Venice Biennale (1928-1934) and the Rome Quadriennale (1931-1939). In 1930, Morandi receives the newly-created chair of Engraving Techniques at the Bologna Academy of Fine Arts "for obvious fame", without applying; he will continue teaching there for 26 years, training several generations of young artists in the rigorous practice of engraving.

1939
The artist is awarded second place for painting at the 1939 Quadriennale in Rome, behind the younger Bruno Saetti. The jury's selection sets off a harsh debate, because the more committed, younger segment of Italian critics supports Morandi: from Roberto Longhi (forty-nine, like Morandi) to Lamberto Vitali, from Cesare Brandi to Giulio Carlo Argan, from Giuseppe Marchiori to Duilio Morosini and the young artists of Corrente. After the war, during which he retires to Grizzana with his family (1943-1944), the artist perseveres in examining and clarifying his image.

1948
The only significant "public" elements are important awards (first prize at the Venice Biennale in 1948, the engraving award in 1953, and the painting award four years later at the Biennale in Sao Paulo, Brazil) or large exhibitions dedicated to his work: at the Calcografia Nazionale in Rome, in 1948, for engravings; the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague and London's New Burlington Galleries in 1954, the Winterthur Kunstmuseum in 1956, New York's World House Gallery in 1957 and 1961, and Siegen in 1962 where he is awarded the Rubens prize.

1964
After an illness lasting approximately one year, Giorgio Morandi died in Bologna on 18 June 1964


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