Giorgio de Chirico. Disegno

Giorgio de Chirico. Disegno, edited by Jole de Sanna, presents the entire collection of drawings and watercolours belonging to the Foundation, for a total of 216 works.

The collection, with works dating from the early 1920s up to the watercolour drawing Metaphysical Interior with set-squares of 1975-1976, testifies to the multiformity of research: from the classic portraits of Raissa Gourevitch, the artist’s first wife, and those of his second wife, Isabella Pakszwer Far, a number of self portraits, landscapes and horses, studies of drapery, anatomy and various animals, Great Master copies from Rubens and Delacroix, mythological and sacred figures, up to the famous subjects such as the Archaeologists, Gladiators and the Mysterious Baths and other themes of invention. The numerous stage-set and costume sketches in the collection, executed in pencil, charcoal, watercolour and tempera emulsion, are witness to the Maestro’s strong interest for the theatre.
The existence of handwritten dedications and notes by the artist on the drawings are indicated in the technical descriptions of each work. Detailed historical research has also identified many of the works as preparatory sketches for oil paintings.
The volume includes the 24 drawings the de Chirico executed in 1971 for the lithographs illustrating the special edition of Hebdomeros (Carlo Bestetti Editore, Rome, 1972), as well as the hand-coloured lithographs prepared for L’Apocalisse of 1941 (edited by R. Carrieri, Edizioni della Chimera, Milan, 20 lithographs) and of 1977 (edited by I. Far, Aldo Garzanti Editore, Milan, 22 lithographs).
The publication includes the previously unpublished manuscript by Giorgio de Chirico Note dal libro sui disegni (Notes from the book on drawings) and an essay by Jole de Sanna.

Electa, Milan 2004
Language: Italian
Pages: 254
Cover: G. de Chirico, Minerva and the Mysterious Object, 1973, Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico, Rome