Mary Ellen Bartley - Morandi's books

Danilo Montanari Editore, ISBN 9791280750372,
Pb, 72 pgs, 21 x 26cm
Language: English & Italian
Acqn. 34704
Awaiting stock


£29.50
Mary Ellen Bartley's series 'Morandi's Books' comprises meditative still life compositions in muted colours, transformed by collage elements. Their palette and restraint, not to mention their understated geometry, are clear homages to the Italian painter Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964). Using photographs from her brief residency at his studio and library in Bologna, she combined these with vellum, pieces of cut-out paper, or aged glassine typical of the papers that covered many of the books from Morandi's collection, adding a beguiling layer of complexity. Her images of the tattered and well-read volumes that informed Morandi's thinking and work transform them into sacred relics.