Still Life (Centrifugal Expansion of Colors)

Gino SeveriniWW-1916-023238

1916·Oil on canvas·66.7 × 61 cm (26 1/4 × 24 in.)

<p><em>Still Life (Centrifugal Expansion of Colors)</em> showcases Gino Severini’s innovative approach to fusing two media: painting and photography. The lively composition features a black-and-white portrait of the artist’s wife, Jeanne Severini, in the upper right. Painted to replicate the effect of photography, the portrait appears to be collaged onto the surface of the work. Fittingly, this painting was first exhibited by photographer Alfred Stieglitz, in 1917, at his gallery 291, a space dedicated to introducing avant-garde European artists to an American audience.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1916
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 66.7 × 61 cm (26 1/4 × 24 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Gino Severini

Artist

Gino Severini

Painting

Italian artist Gino Severini was a leading figure of the Futurist movement in the years leading up to the First World War. His Futurist paintings built upon the geometry of Cubism, and he used iridescent color to achieve the dynamism, movement and energy that was synonymous with Italian Futurism. His celebration of new technologies echoed the building excitement and optimism of the early decades of the twentieth century in Italy.

Cortona, Italy

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Plate 19 from Futurists, Abstractionists, Dadaists: the Forerunners of the Avant-Garde, vol. I

1962 · Etching from an illustrated book with nineteen etchings (three with drypoint, two with aquatint, and one with aquatint and embossing) and one engraving

WW-1962-M015058