RSA Scottish Art
The Studio with Lay Figure
 | Artist: Alberto Morrocco |
| Title: The Studio with Lay Figure | |
| Year: 1993 | |
| Medium: oil on canvas | |
| Dimensions: | |
| Suggested topic: | |
| Source: RSA | |
| View full screen image of this work | |
| Open print version of this work | |
| © Vera Morrocco | |
| Description: Alberto Morrocco is descended from an Italian family. He was Head of Painting at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee until he retired in 1983. He is remembered for his mural work and portraits in oil and water colours.This painting is called The Studio with Lay Figure, and is typical of Alberto Morrocco's later work. It is a complex and dynamic composition. He has used simplified, decorative shapes incorporating favourite motifs such as the clown hat, the dove and sunflowers. It is also a “painting within a painting” representing Morrocco's interests as a painter as well, by the inclusion of the palette and canvas.Much of the painting seems to show flat planes such as the easel and canvas, the tabletop and the yellow panel behind the figure. Objects which are not flat have even been painted in such a way as to make them appear so. The yellow stool has been tilted forward so that the round top faces the viewer, but its legs are still upright. The paint palette near the top echoes the shape of the flowers within the canvas and the bowl of fruit. This, along with the “hot” colours of the painting itself, recreates an atmosphere of summer, pleasure and holidays. The execution of this painting is carefully controlled but shows softened edges and restrained brushstrokes. Rather than painting dark outlines around objects, Morrocco has sometimes left a space between colours to delineate an edge. The tonal range shown here is very wide, and the palette is also quite diverse but with an emphasis on warm reds and yellows. | |
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