Following upon a recent monograph and subsequent exhibition dedicated to Mario Schifano’s early work, this essay considers a number of paintings realized by the artist between 1963 and 1966. Schifano’s figurative imagery will be discussed through close analysis of a number of these works, with a particular focus on the rich materiality of his paintings and their iconographic sources. The first section of the article will deal with Leonardo (1963), a four-square-meter painting inspired by the so-called Self-portrait by Da Vinci. This section will explore Schifano’s use of contemporary photographic projection tools. Furthermore, the peculiar characteristics of the painting’s surface – which are very difficult to capture in reproduction – will be shown to reveal the artist’s meticulous layering of materials on the canvas and to explain its effects. The second section will contextualize this Roman artist within the exchanges and interactions that took place between Italian and American art between 1964 and 1966. This period in Schifano’s life was marked by two stays in the U.S. and his first-hand experience of the works of artists such as Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol. It will be shown that some of these paintings, as well as certain contemporary exhibitions (such as the fundamental The Responsive Eye, curated by William Seitz at MoMA in 1965), shed light on creative choices made by Schifano during these months. For example, his ‘optical’ geometric shapes will be considered alongside his particular use of ‘perspex’, a plastic the artist used to partially or totally cover a number of his paintings. Finally, the study of two works produced in 1965 – Influenza astratta and Lo spazio – including an in-depth analysis of their sources, will clarify the unpredictability and eclecticism of the images chosen by Schifano as a starting point for his paintings. Borrowed and framed within his very personal and manipulative technique, the images are inevitably betrayed in the (entirely intentional) imperfection of the final works.

«Da considerarsi quadri» : quattro anni di Mario Schifano pittore (1963-1966)

Virginia Magnaghi
2022

Abstract

Following upon a recent monograph and subsequent exhibition dedicated to Mario Schifano’s early work, this essay considers a number of paintings realized by the artist between 1963 and 1966. Schifano’s figurative imagery will be discussed through close analysis of a number of these works, with a particular focus on the rich materiality of his paintings and their iconographic sources. The first section of the article will deal with Leonardo (1963), a four-square-meter painting inspired by the so-called Self-portrait by Da Vinci. This section will explore Schifano’s use of contemporary photographic projection tools. Furthermore, the peculiar characteristics of the painting’s surface – which are very difficult to capture in reproduction – will be shown to reveal the artist’s meticulous layering of materials on the canvas and to explain its effects. The second section will contextualize this Roman artist within the exchanges and interactions that took place between Italian and American art between 1964 and 1966. This period in Schifano’s life was marked by two stays in the U.S. and his first-hand experience of the works of artists such as Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol. It will be shown that some of these paintings, as well as certain contemporary exhibitions (such as the fundamental The Responsive Eye, curated by William Seitz at MoMA in 1965), shed light on creative choices made by Schifano during these months. For example, his ‘optical’ geometric shapes will be considered alongside his particular use of ‘perspex’, a plastic the artist used to partially or totally cover a number of his paintings. Finally, the study of two works produced in 1965 – Influenza astratta and Lo spazio – including an in-depth analysis of their sources, will clarify the unpredictability and eclecticism of the images chosen by Schifano as a starting point for his paintings. Borrowed and framed within his very personal and manipulative technique, the images are inevitably betrayed in the (entirely intentional) imperfection of the final works.
2022
Settore L-ART/03 - Storia dell'Arte Contemporanea
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11384/127922
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