Morandi

Three essays on the artist and a collection of some 100 of Giorgio Morandi's paintings, sketches, watercolors and drawings suffer from the elusiveness of the art. Morandi (1890-1964), an Italian contemporary of the futurists, but independent of them and all movements, depicted the same objectsvases and flowers, bowlsrepeatedly, with the exception of a few lyrical landscapes, the minority in this book's representation of his paintings. As such, his images lack human and social content. At best enigmatic, at worst dull, the still lifes have a restrained, academic impulse. Accompanying the pictures are two vague critical essays and a brief biography, a record of exhibitions and photographs of the artist, but the book does not effectively coordinate its text with the reproductions. The essays are restricted to the front and back, with the paintings hanging forlornly in the middlefine for browsers, but unhelpful to those searching for a better understanding of each work's meaning and its part in the artist's development. And the inclusion of redundant essays by three art historians prevents the book from reaching a cogent, single view of its subject. (October)