Giorgio de Chirico / The Scholar's Playthings / 1917

Giorgio de Chirico
The Scholar's Playthings
1917
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Creator Name: de Chirico Giorgio
Creator Nationality: Italian
Creator Role: Artist
Creator Dates/Places: 1888 - 1978
Gender: M
Creator Name-CRT: Giorgio de Chirico
Title: The Scholar's Playthings
View: front
Creation Start Date: 1917
Creation End Date: 1917
Creation Date: 1917
Object Type: Paintings
Classification Term: Painting
Materials and Techniques: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 35 1/4 x 20 1/4 in. (89.54 x 51.44 cm) (canvas)
Inscriptions: Signed:LR in black: [G. de Chirico 5-1917]Inscribed:Signature and Date
AMICA Contributor: The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Owner Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
ID Number: 72.75
Credit Line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel H. Maslon
Copyright: (c)2002 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/SIAE, Rome
Rights: http://www.artsmia.org/restrictions.cfm and http://www.arsny.org
Provenance: (Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York, New York).[1] J. David Thompson, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (The New Gallery, New York, New York by 1958); sold to Samuel H. and Luella Maslon, Wayzata, Minnesota on December 16, 1958;[2] gift to MIA in 1972.[1] The painting appeared in three exhibitions at the gallery dating from November of 1935 to November of 1941.[2] According to a letter from the Art Dealers Association of America dated January 15, 1973 in the curatorial files.
Context: As a leader of the Metaphysical school of painting in Italy, Giorgio de Chirico had an important influence on the development of Surrealism in the early 1920s. In his own art, de Chirico combined stark images of buildings and empty urban spaces with objects from everyday life and often distorted scale and perspective to accentuate their haunting quality.Made while serving in the Italian army during World War I, this painting dates to the height of the artist's Metaphysical period. On the left he pictured a view of a factory in Modena, the city where he was stationed. The other objects included - drafting tools and anatomical charts - symbolize the "playthings" of the artist who must study anatomy, drawing, and architecture as part of his training. The anatomical charts may also be an autobiographical allusion to the artist's frequent illnesses.
Exhibition History: - New York, New York, Pierre Matisse Gallery, "Giorgio de Chirico: Paintings from 1908 to 1918" (November 19 - December 21, 1935).
Exhibition History: - New York, New York, Pierre Matisse Gallery, "Giorgio de Chirico" (October 22 - November 23, 1940).
Exhibition History: - New York, New York, Pierre Matisse Gallery, "Exhibition of French Modern Paintings" (October 7 - November 1, 1941), cat. no. 4.
Exhibition History: - Minneapolis, Minnesota, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, "Drawings, Paintings and Sculpture from Three Private Collections" (1960), cat. no. 71.
Exhibition History: - Minneapolis, Minnesota, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, "New Treasures" (March 3 - September 1978).
Exhibition History: - Minneapolis Minnesota, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota Artisits Exhibition Program, "Building Dialogue" (October 19 - December 5, 1989).
Exhibition History: - Dusseldorf, Germany, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, "The Other Face of Modern Art" (September 15 - December 2, 2001); subsequently, Munich, Germany, Lenbachhaus (December 21 - March 11, 2002).
AMICA ID: MIA_.72.75
AMICA Library Year: 2003
Media Metadata Rights:

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