Phillips Collection of Washington D.C.
https://www.phillipscollection.org/events/2013-04-13-exhibition-myth-and-archaeology
2013 - Year of Italian Culture in the United States
Under the Auspices of the President of the Italian Republic
and with the Patronage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Italy in Washington DC
Giorgio de Chirico
Myth and Archaeology
The Phillips Collection - Washington DC April 13 - June 15 2013
A year devoted to the culture of Italy, a country that looks to the future while never forgetting its roots, could hardly fail to feature the work of Giorgio de Chirico. The exhibition at The Phillips Collection outlines how the artist drew upon mythology, archaeology and history to create evoc- ative images that suggest a mysterious otherworldly reality, revealing not only his predilection for traditional themes and techniques but also his affinity with the Surrealist vision and fascination with metaphysical subjects. Powerful emotions and images are thus conjured up through the lineaments of ancient forms.
The exhibition focus in particular on sculpture and demonstrate its role of primary importance in the master's oeuvre as a whole, including painting. It is in fact often on a white marble statue that the perspective lines converge in his early paintings, where subjects drawn from the Greek and hellenistic world often indicate a return to the origins of his personal history and artistic civilization.
The exhibition bears witness to the metaphysical shift towards the above and beyond, whereby sculpture came to lose its classical features and manifest its symbolic essence. the result was a perfect synthesis, with the dummy emerging from the pictorial realm to become sculpture, thus attaining immortality and acquiring the metaphysical characteristics for which Giorgio de Chirico was celebrated the world over. A chosen selection of works on paper completes the exhibition.
Exhibition curated by Renato Miracco, Cultural Attache of Embassy of Italy Washington DC and Franco Calarota, Chairman of Galleria d'Arte Maggiore, Bologna (Italy)
