Giorgio de Chirico- On The Line Between Tradition and Progression
One might think if an art lover goes to Rome, they might write about Caravaggio, Michelangelo, Bernini, etc. I guess I expected to be awed by such works (even though some of the Caravaggio’s have way too much varnish on them from past restorations). I visited the Galleria Comunale d'Arte Moderna in Rome, where I had the pleasure of seeing de Chirico’s work.
I was not expecting to enjoy de Chirico’s work as much as I did.
In Italy, especially in the south, tradition and modernity are constantly intersecting, clashing and overshadowing one another. This has been relevant since the First World War.
Giorgio de Chirico along with fellow artist/friend Carlo Carrà, met in Ferrara where they were both stationed during the First World War. Here is where both their concepts and imagery began. Fascim riddled throughout the Italian peninsula and it’s islands. An industrial and social war was taking place, isolating (and destroying) the people and the traditions that were not the same page.
Giorgio de Chirico, Piazza d'Italia con statua, 1937
Today, even after the two world wars, Italy struggles with the dynamic of the past and present. The best visual representation I have seen of this everoccuring concept is in the paintings of de Chirico, especially those created during the 1930’s.
In the painting, “Piazza d'Italia con statua'“, we see a classical very greco-italian sculpture of a reclined woman, probably [modeled after a] Venus or Aphrodite in the center of an old desolate town, partially covered by a shadow. In the distance, we see a modern town with a booming industrial complex. Between the two, a vast landscape of nothingness.
The significance of the shadow veiling the sculpture is an exclamation on the overshadowing modernity has on tradition. The viewer is set in the small town, looking towards modernity. This is de Chirico’s way of giving us the perfect view of what is occurring, and allowing us to decide- do we go towards the overstimulating, ever-moving, commotion of modernity, or do we stay in the desolate, rough, simplistic way of tradition? Which is right? Which is wrong?
Giorgio de Chirico, Presente e passato, 1936
De Chirico has an elegance of being direct and vague.
I don’t think his technical skill is something to rave about, especially when compared to other modern Italian artists, but I think his simplicity is a strength in communicating such a concept to both parties in the equation.
V.N