With its strong, impulsive use of line, Da Dove (1983-9) by Emilio Vedova is characteristic of the later works in which the techniques he developed over decades reached their artistic peak. The raw, irresistible presence of the gesture represents the undiminished powers of an artist whose total commitment to abstract painting took the medium to new heights of creative expression and intensity.
From the 1960s on, Vedova experimented with expanding the classical pictorial space, to the point where it was no longer limited to the canvas. This led to the emergence of the so-called Plurimi: painting and collage on multi-sided, movable wooden elements that were freely hung or placed in the room.
Emilio Vedova (1919–2006)
Da Dove (1983-9), 1983
Currently exhibited: Yes (Gallery: Boundless Painting)
Material: Oil on canvas
Size: 229.7 x 299.7 cm
Inv-Nr.: B_384
Image rights: Fondazione Emilio e Annabianca Vedova, Venezia
Keywords:
Previous owner: Private collection, Venice; Galerie Neuendorf, Hamburg
Acquisition: Reinhard Ernst Collection, Christie’s, Milan, 2017
Solo exhibition:
1984
‘Emilio Vedova 1935–1984’, Museo Correr, Venice, Italy
Emilio Vedova is one of the most important representatives of Italian Informel after the Second World War. Born in Venice, Vedova devoted his whole life as an autodidact to the development of non-representational painting. From 1948 on, his work was a constant presence at the Venice Biennale. From the 1960s on, Vedova experimented with expanding the classical pictorial space, to the point where it was no longer limited to the canvas. This led to the emergence of the so-called Plurimi: painting and collage on multi-sided, movable wooden elements that were freely hung or placed in the room. Its most prominent example is Plurimi di Berlino (Absurd Berlin Diary, 1964). This expansive painting becomes an object, rejecting the classical distance to the picture and invites the viewer to physically move into the picture and position themselves in relation to it. The idea came about when Vedova was living and working as an „Artist in Residence“ in a divided Berlin from late 1963 to mid 1965 with the help of a grant from the Ford Foundation. This was one of his major works and led to an invitation to documenta III. The work has been in the Berlinische Galerie since 2002.
Twenty years after this step into space, Da Dove (1983-9), with its strong, impulsive use of line, is characteristic of Vedova’s later works in which the techniques he developed over decades reached their artistic peak. The raw, irresistible presence of the gesture represents the undiminished powers of an artist whose total commitment to abstract painting took the medium to new heights of creative expression and intensity.
