Still Life with Bottles and Pitcher
Central to Morandi’s oeuvre is the still life, a subject he returned to throughout his career. In these works, he allowed bottles, vases, pitchers, fruit dishes, and other quotidian objects that he collected and staged in his studio to transcend their traditional associations. Rather than underscore their functional duties, he depicted them as nearly abstract architectonic forms whose solidity contradicts their humble origins. With its compressed space, elongated forms, and prominent crosshatching, Still Life with Bottles and Pitcher exhibits a sense of movement that makes it rare among Morandi’s etchings. It reflects the influence of Futurism, a contemporary movement led by young Italian artists who sought a revolutionary art that would dismantle existing visual and verbal structures to reflect the sounds, images, and dynamism of modern life.
Artwork Details
- Title: Still Life with Bottles and Pitcher
- Artist: Giorgio Morandi (Italian, Bologna 1890–1964 Bologna)
- Date: 1915
- Medium: Etching and aquatint; first state of two
- Dimensions: Plate: 6 × 4 15/16 in. (15.3 × 12.6 cm)
Sheet: 9 3/4 × 8 1/4 in. (24.8 × 20.9 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Bequest of William S. Lieberman, 2005
- Object Number: 2007.49.625
- Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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