Day 4 Italy
Paintings. Paintings? Yes, paintings. John and I went to Torino yesterday. I'd never been and it is about an hour from where we stay in Alba. Torino was wonderful and we saw some remarkable art. We went to the Civic Gallery of Modern Art (GAM) and saw a show that categorized artistic creative expression into several areas in seperate galleries, none of which I could have cared less about. This was a show that pulled art from the museum's permanent collection, which was mostly Italian, as a way to educate viewers. Okay, a curatorial construct that is contrived. But some of the paintings were magnificent.
I photographed the areas in each painting that interested me.
(sorry, no attributions, these are really just snapshots)
There's a sheer level of skill here that is simply phenominal. Many artists avoid painting hands as they are so difficult to get right. This artist seems be to showing off his abilities.
This one above is from the late 18th century and yes, there are flying figures.
There were several paintings depicting idealized and fantasized landscapes. Of course, I loved these.
I did copy down the artist for these below as I wanted to learn more about him. He was Antonio Fontenesi and he lived from 1818-1882 and was from Reggio Emilia in Italy:
They are dark and brooding paintings, so far down there as to be almost not there
and convey the hazy air at times in Italy and what must be" late in the day" light.
I don't know about you but I admire painting very much. It seems with our use of photography that we work so hard to convey emotion at times and that our tools make such a straightforward representation of reality that it is difficult to get them to bend to our needs. Imagine starting with a large, white, gesso'd blank canvas and applying that first brushstroke to it. What a different way to build a picture! We make ours in some fraction of a second, all at once.
Today, number 5 in Italy? We are headed off to make pictures as the rain has finally stopped. I wonder if these paintings will resonate in my brain enough to effect how I see? Hm. Paintings made in Italy by Italian painters. I am in Italy. Hm.
Stay tuned....
Related series
Reggio Emilia, Italy 2009
Made while on sabbatical leave from my teaching position and living in Italy.
These are from the Spallanzani Collection of the Civic Museum in Reggio Emilia.
Pictures made with the permission and assistance of the Museum.
Trees, Italy 2009
These were made in 2009 on a sabbatical leave from my teaching position at Northeastern University. Driving from Venice to stay in Trieste for three weeks, I came across these stands of trees, interspersed among fields of wheat and corn, in a flat agricultural region near small towns with names like Latisana and Palmonova.
Digital capture is in color, so I made the conversion to black and white in post production, using Photoshop so that I was able to make these as duotones. The inkjet prints are 21 x 14 inches.
I returned to Trieste in the fall of 2012 and photographed the trees again, this time keeping them as color photographs.
Rivalta, Italy 2012
Rivalta is near Trieste in northern Italy and was a small settlement that included a 15th century church, some farm buildings and a couple of houses. It is in an area that is heavily farmed and flat, with crops of corn, some wheat and stands of trees that are harvested for wood every 25 years or so.
This is another in a now-long list of series shot over a few hours on a flat gray day .
The prints in the portfolio are 22 x 17 inches.
Trees, Italy 2012
This is the second set of trees pictures made from west of Trieste, Italy. The first ones were made in 2009 and I converted the files to make black and white photographs.
The area where these trees are grown is about 40 minutes by Autostrada west of Trieste, near villages with names like: Latisana, Palmanova and Pocenia. The trees are grown as a crop and this past trip in September I got to see all of its phases, from planting to harvesting.
The prints are on 21 x 14 inches.
