Accession Number
1956/1.86

Title
Laguna Veneta

Artist(s)
Renato Birolli

Artist Nationality
Italian (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
1954

Medium & Support
color lithograph on paper

Dimensions
20 in x 15 3/8 in (50.8 cm x 39.05 cm);28 1/16 in x 22 1/16 in (71.28 cm x 56.04 cm);26 9/16 in x 18 7/8 in (67.47 cm x 47.94 cm);20 in x 15 3/8 in (50.8 cm x 39.05 cm)

Credit Line
Museum Purchase

Subject matter
Birolli was a founding member of the "Gruppo degli Otto" (Group of Eight) that formed in the early 1950s. Birolli and his group were proponents of a new kind of abstraction, which Italian art historian Lionello Venturi called "astratto concreto" (concrete abstraction). This lithograph demonstrates the ideals of the group in it's post-cubist style of abstraction, and Birolli's own interest in the larger European trend of Art Informel with its messy and gestural lines. The title, "Venetial Lagoon," sheds light on the strong horizon line at the center of the image; the shapes and lines growing before the horizon may represent abstractions of the grand palazzi of the Ventitian landscape.

Physical Description
Color lithograph with an abstract design. There is a light tan background for upper-half of the work and dark blue-green for the lower half.  Dominating the right side of the print are thick dark-olive lines, while abstract white, yellow and pink shapes dominate the left. The print is signed (l.r) "R. Birolli" and numbered (l.l.) "94/200" in pencil.

Primary Object Classification
Print

Primary Object Type
abstract

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
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Keywords
Art Informel
Italian (culture or style)
Musical instruments
abstraction
color lithographs
lagoons (bodies of water)
modern and contemporary art