GIORGIO DE CHIRICO: EXHIBITION OF EARLY PAINTINGS
Pierre Matisse Gallery
[Pierre Matisse Gallery]: GIORGIO DE CHIRICO: EXHIBITION OF EARLY PAINTINGS. New York: Pierre Matisse Gallery, 1940. Original edition. Double-fold announcement on duplex stock with black offset printing recto and verso. List of 17 works. Nice period typography and printing. Lightly handled, otherwise a fine example.
12.5 x 16 double-fold announcement with a list of the 17 works included in the exhibition from October 22 until November 23, 1940.
“One of the strangest feelings left to us by prehistory is the sensation of omen. It will always exist. It si like an eternal proof of the non sequitur of the universe. The first man must have seen omens everywhere, he must have shuddered at each step.” — Giorgio de Chirico Giorgio de Chirico (1888–1978) was an Italian painter, sculptor, theatrical designer and writer born at Volo in Greece, of Italian parents. Studied drawing and painting at the Athens Polytechnic 1903–6 and for eighteen months at the Munich Academy, where he discovered the work of Böcklin. Moved to Italy in 1908. In Paris 1911–15 met Apollinaire, Picasso and others, and painted a highly influential group of paintings evoking dream-like architectural visions of Italy. Further developed this style, known as Metaphysical painting, at Ferrara 1915–18. Began in 1918 in Rome to make a close study of the paintings and techniques of the Old Masters. First one-man exhibition at the Casa d'Arte Bragaglia, Rome, 1919. Again from 1925–31 in Paris where the Surrealists, who admired his early paintings, attacked him for his adoption of a more traditional style (portraits, still lifes, horses by the sea, etc.). Spent the 1930s partly in Italy, partly in Paris and New York, then settled in 1943 in Rome. Designed sets and costumes for various ballets and operas, and made a number of small sculptures, mainly from 1968 onwards; his writings included a poetic novel Hebdomeros 1929 and an autobiography Memorie della mia Vita 1945. Died in Rome. [Tate Artist Biography]
From the Guggenheim's website: "Pierre Matisse, son of the Fauvist master Henri Matisse, was a prominent collector of European modern art in the mid-twentieth century. In October 1932, he opened the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York City and served as a champion of the sale and display of European modern art in the United States. In that same year, the gallery exhibited its first show on the Surrealist artist Joan Miro, and Matisse would continue to exhibit Miro more often than any other artist he represented during his illustrious 55-year career."
"During his 60 years as a dealer, Pierre Matisse exhibited some of the greatest artists of this century in his gallery in the Fuller Building at 41 East 57th Street, including modern masters like Miro, Balthus, Chagall, Dubuffet, Tanguy, Mondrian, Giacometti, de Chirico and his own father, Henri Matisse.
"The dealer's passionate belief in his artists was a lonely undertaking. ''In the beginning my father spent a lot of time in the gallery alone,'' his son Paul said. ''Year after year during the 1930's he just sat there believing in the value of these artists when few other people did. There would be hours and hours before anyone would come in.
''I remember once, when he had a Miró show up, all of a sudden this crowd of people came into the gallery and he said he thought, 'Finally his work has been recognized.' You see, the reaction to Miro had often been, 'My kid could do this.' But it was all a big misunderstanding. The group of people were out for St. Patrick's Day and had thought they recognized something in Miro's name.''
"The relationship between Pierre Matisse and his father has always been a subject of speculation. At the 50th anniversary of the gallery, Pierre Matisse told John Russell of The New York Times: ''My father didn't want me to be a dealer. If I'd been a bad writer or a bad musician he wouldn't have minded. But all artists are wary of all dealers, and he just didn't want me to get mixed up with the trade.''
"But Paul Matisse said the letters actually show how close father and son were. ''They are very personal letters that indicated a very strong family attachment,'' he said. ' 'His father would berate him for not writing enough. He had a tremendous interest in Pierre and knowing what he was doing.'' -- Carol Vogel "A Pack Rat's Art Treasures; For Morgan Library, Pierre Matisse's Archives Are a Bonanza," New York Times, July 08, 1998.