Found a new Montici today, and it’s a beauty.
While googling Montici images, I came across this uncatalogued, wonderfully moody Blow mosaic (above) sold on EBay on Aug. 22, 2021. I love the stone selection, the color palette, and the dark, De Chirico vibe.
This artwork, which we’re giving the MSID title “Empty Night Piazza,” becomes the fourth, night piazza-themed Montici work in our Society database.
Richard saved the best for last.
It’s signed and dated “Richard A. Blow, Montici-72,” just a year before he permanently shuttered his Montici workshop, sold his beloved Villa Piazza Calda, and retired to New York.
Compare “Empty Night Piazza” to this (above) night piazza work, “Five Buildings #1,” executed in 1957. It’s one of three, very close variants in our database. The trio feature the same, heavy, dark sky, the signature leaning tower, the arches, and center-prominent church found in 1972’s “Empty Night Piazza.” But all three mosaics are flat, 2-dimensional works. And none include the deep shadows and black, rain-darkened, piazza floor that gives “Empty Dark Plazza”its darker, De Chirico punch.
Richard was fascinated by the work of Italian artist Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978).
Richard knew him personally, collected his ar, and commissioned designs from de Chirico. A Time magazie article entitled “Pictures in Stone,” dated Dec. 31, 1951, confirmes this .close working arrangement. It’s possible that “Empty Night Piazza” is an original, commissioned de Chirico design.
Italian public squares were a dominant theme in De Chirico’s metaphysical art (above). The Blow piazza mosaics and De Chirico piazza paintings share multiple elements, including arches, deep shadows, dark skies, and the Scuola Metafisica “sense of dislocation in time and space.” De Chirico had a significant influence on the later Surrealist art movement, including Salvador Dalí, and René Magritte.
The Richard Blow surrealist mosaic that most closely matches a De Chirico is probably this Montici piece (above). We’ve titled it “Classical Arcade and Sculpture..” Rago Arts auctioned it off on Sept. 29, 2018 for $5,625.
Compare it to this De Chirico painting, done in 1948 when Giorgio was working in Rome, and Richard making mosaics in Florence. Note the similar crooked elbow, reclining figure statue; the deep black shadows; the sunlit floor; the arches; the strong red elements. The Venice Biennale prominently featured De Chirico’s work that year, and it’s possible Richard attended. He had the interest, money and time.
Whatever the case, thanks to De Chirico’s influence, Richard injected an invigorating, surrealist shot of adrenaline into Florence’s stagnant post-war, pietra dura industry.
Here’s a toast to Giorgio!
Michael Schmicker.