Stanley Whitney’s Italian paintings reveal an art practice in transition
American abstract painter Stanley Whitney’s works from the 1990s to mid-2000s, made in Italy and now on display as a collateral event of the Venice Biennale 2022, show an evolution of form and colour
American abstract painter Stanley Whitney came to Rome in the early 1990s. The city had a huge impact on his life and his work as an artist, becoming a practice-altering source of inspiration and eventually a second home. This entanglement is now the subject of a new exhibition ‘Stanley Whitney: The Italian Paintings’, at Palazzo Tiepolo Passi in Venice, which opened alongside the 59th Venice Biennale. The show looks at some of the paintings Whitney made in Italy from the 1990s to the mid-2000s alongside his scrapbooks, giving a unique insight into his intuitive and dynamic practice.
‘It’s wonderful to see the paintings back in Italy where they were made. Being in Italy caused a shift in the colours I use – they became softer. It’s great to see these paintings in the Venetian light,’ Whitney says of the exhibition, which features his works alongside original fabric wallpaper and ornate rugs at Palazzo Tiepolo Passi.
The exhibition has the touchstone of three diptychs that have never been exhibited before and are utterly unique in Whitney’s practice. They mark an important change of direction for the artist. While the grid is visible, the strokes are still defined in a way that fades out of his painting as he moves into the 2000s.
‘They’re really transitional paintings,’ he says. ‘They were the first paintings I did when I moved to Italy from New York. Also, I never painted a diptych before that, or ever again, so they’re very unique. To show them for the first time in a 16th-century palazzo during the Venice Biennale is an incredible opportunity.’
The exhibition is co-curated by Cathleen Chaffee, chief curator of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum and Vincenzo de Bellis, curator and associate director at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Once they had selected the works they wanted to include, they arranged some of these in an intuitive call and response, in which each selected work followed on from the other. The format is an homage to Whitney’s spontaneous and immediate ‘afternoon paintings’, completed over a few hours after time spent on the larger works.
‘The afternoon paintings and the larger works are part of the same process,’ says Whitney. ‘I do the afternoon paintings after I’ve finished the larger paintings. It’s sort of a way to calm down at the end of a painting day. The sketchbooks are like a diary, and seeing the sketchbooks that capture my time in Italy gathered together – notes from when my son was born, things I was thinking about during the summers – is very special.’
These smaller, more spontaneous works and the notebooks were set in situ in a unique way by the curators, who took inspiration from Whitney’s practice, alternately choosing works in response to each other.
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
‘Stanley says, about this work, that [it is] painting as a call and response. Which is a musical kind of term, right? It's improvisation,’ says de Bellis. ‘We did it the same way. I picked one and Cathleen picked one and then the other one responded – it was very logical.’
Whitney’s use of colour, seen bathed in the Venetian light, is something to behold. As we spend time with these works, deeper layers and juxtapositions reveal themselves. We see a tighter use of form and more defined use of colour emerge over the years. We may assume that this shows a calming down for the artist as he gets older – but this is not the case.
‘I don’t think it’s about calmness, it’s about mature understanding,’ Whitney reveals. ‘As I got a better understanding of what colour is and what drawing is for me, I could do more with less. It’s a greater challenge for me to do more with less.’
INFORMATION
Stanley Whitney, ‘The Italian Paintings’, until 27 November 2022, Palazzo Tiepolo Passi, San Polo 2774, Venice. lissongallery.com
Amah-Rose Abrams is a British writer, editor and broadcaster covering arts and culture based in London. In her decade plus career she has covered and broken arts stories all over the world and has interviewed artists including Marina Abramovic, Nan Goldin, Ai Weiwei, Lubaina Himid and Herzog & de Meuron. She has also worked in content strategy and production.
-
Molly Goddard on creating a community of contemporary brides
As new Molly Goddard bridal wear is released, the designer talks about creating romantic but real wedding dresses, while three recent brides tell the stories behind their own Goddard gowns
By Jack Moss Published
-
Palazzo Roma embodies the heritage of Roman noblesse
Palazzo Roma, part of the Shedir Collection, boasts eclectic and eccentric interiors by Giampiero Panepinto
By Luke Abrahams Published
-
Boise Passive House’s bold gestures support an environmentally friendly design
Boise Passive House by Haas Architecture combines sleek, contemporary design and environmental efficiency
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
‘Accordian Fields’ at Lisson Gallery unites painters inspired by London
‘Accordian Fields’ at Lisson Gallery is a group show looking at painting linked to London
By Amah-Rose Abrams Published
-
Triennale Milano exhibition spotlights contemporary Italian art
The latest Triennale Milano exhibition, ‘Italian Painting Today’, is a showcase of artworks from the last three years
By Tianna Williams Published
-
Walls, Windows and Blood: Catherine Opie in Naples
Catherine Opie's new exhibition ‘Walls, Windows and Blood’ is now on view at Thomas Dane Gallery, Naples
By Amah-Rose Abrams Published
-
The best London art exhibitions to see now
Your guide to the best London art exhibitions, as chosen by the Wallpaper* arts desk
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Art, science, and activism coalesce in ‘Thus waves come in pairs’ at Ocean Space, Venice
‘Thus waves come in pairs’, an exhibition of two new commissions at Ocean Space in Venice, features potent work by Simone Fattal, and artist duo Petrit Halilaj & Álvaro Urbano
By Will Jennings Published
-
Fondazione Prada exhibition is an ode to a vanishing Venice
At Fondazione Prada’s 18th-century Venice palazzo, group exhibition ‘Everybody Talks About the Weather’ straddles beauty and fear and probes Venice’s precarious environmental future
By Will Jennings Published
-
Alex Hartley’s eerie ode to Carlo Scarpa in Venice
Alex Hartley’s theatrical new installation ‘Closer than Before’ at Victoria Miro Venice is a haunting take on architectural destruction in Venice
By Thea Hawlin Published
-
All eyes on Christina Quarles, the painter inventing a new figurative language
Los Angeles-based artist Christina Quarles is in her element, with two major solo shows underway at Hamburger Bahnhof and Hauser & Wirth Menorca
By Emily McDermott Published