Giorgio Morandi and Vitale Bloch by Alexandre Blokh We can look at Morandi without necessarily believing in God, in the absolute, in Man. But it seems to me that, beyond this, skepticism becomes difficult. As for myself, I was lucky enough to be initiated into this mystical painting, which was reintroducing a sense of peace and ancient happiness into modernity: peace and ancient happiness that were considered fundamental aspects of Morandi himself by my uncle, Vitale Bloch. Through my uncle, I discovered Morandis work, and I discovered Morandi the man. It was in fact Vitale who, together with Max Friedländer, had become a specialist of Flemish painting, and whom Roberto Longhi had introduced to the vast domain of Italian painting, who considered Morandis oeuvre as the Grail of his time. He loved Morandi the man, he could make delicate jokes about him and could wonderfully imitate Morandis sighs: Dove andiamo a finire? (Where are we going to end up?), expressing Morandis amazement vis-à-vis the times in which he was living and in which he felt so lost. He loved to tell the story of how Mussolini once, while visiting an exhibition, had hurried towards him as he was standing in front of his pictures; Lei è Bolognese? (You are from Bologna, arent you?). Petrified in front of this muscular, short man, the tall beanpole, all skin and bones, stepped back and murmured, Sì, trembling. Ah! Allora, Lei è Emiliano (Ah, so you are from Emilia). And Morandi again took a step backwards and repeated, as though to defend himself, Sì. Furious at obtaining nothing more, Mussolini clicked his heels and turned around and shouted, Basta colle nature morte! (Thats enough of the still lifes!). Their relationship did not stop there: Vitale also loved to tell the story of a picture by Morandi which had been exported without a licence, over which, in order the better to hide the fact, a portrait of Il Duce had been painted. When the painting arrived in New York, the happy owner entrusted it to his restorer; then, when he left on holiday, he asked for news of the work and received the following telegram: Mussolini disappeared stop Garibaldi appeared stop whats next. My uncle was an art historian, a critic, and from time to time a dealer. He was especially, as Francesco Arcangeli wrote in the homage to Vitale for his seventieth birthday, a master of discernment. He could stop for hours in front of a picture, the lapels of his jacket getting covered with the ashes of the cigarettes which he could never stop smoking, and it looked like he was praying. He wrote widely: his bibliography, prepared by Liana Castelfranchi Vegas, is six pages long. Amongst his many essays, I always thought that it was in his book on Vermeer that he best expressed the love which led and guided his life. He was looking for this profound peace which deep down, inhabits every man, which the great Flemish painters and Chardin managed to portray and which Morandi found again, listened to and expressed in the midst of the sound and fury of his century, without letting the fury distract him. It seems to me that what belonged to art must return to it; it seems to me that the person who introduced this art into our lives must be celebrated. This is the reason why the monies we hope we will raise through the sale of these Morandis will be mostly consecrated to the creation of a foundation which will annually award the author of a book dedicated to painting or sculpture, critical or erudite, in the name of Vitale, my uncle, and Arnold, my father, to whom I owe my love for art and letters. The administration of the prize, as well as everything concerning the Foundation, will be entrusted to the Fondation de France, the official organization charged with the support and management of private foundations. My executor, Olivier Poivre dArvor, will choose the ten members of the jury from the best known critics, the P.E.N. Club Franis, and the Société des Gens de Lettres pour le Prix Jean Blot. The executor, alongside the most renowned critics, will ask for the support of the Association Internationale des Critiques dArt and UNESCO in order to choose the composition of the jury for the Prix Vitale et Arnold Blokh. The final amount of the prize will depend on the interest generated by the capital of the endowment and will be determined by the Fondation de France, in agreement with the executor. PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION
Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964)

Natura morta

成交价 英镑 959,650
估价
英镑 350,000 – 英镑 650,000
估价不包括买家酬金。成交总额为下锤价加以买家酬金及扣除可适用之费用。
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Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964)

Natura morta

成交价 英镑 959,650
 
成交价 英镑 959,650
 
细节
Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964)
Natura morta
signed 'Morandi' (lower centre)
oil on canvas
12 1/8 x 13 7/8 in. (30.8 x 35.2 cm.)
Painted in 1954
来源
Vitale Bloch, Paris, and thence by descent to the present owner.
出版
L. Vitali, Morandi, Catalogo Generale, 1948/1964, vol. II, Milan, 1977, no. 916 (illustrated).

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