Photographer Joel Meyerowitz on repurposing some of the most popular art supplies

In 2015, photographer Joel Meyerowitz found himself inside the preserved studio of Italian painter Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964). Casa Morandi at 36 Via Fondazza in Bologna – a museum established from the artist’s studio and residence after his death – has a legacy of life to look at closely, and is full of objects that were the subject of Morandi’s celebrated works that are still alive.

(Image credit: Joel Meyerowitz)

The result of Meyerowitz’s visit was the now celebrated and sought-after book, Morandi’s stufffirst published in 2016 by Damiani. Now, the photographer has revisited his portrait from that journey, creating a new, expanded edition of the book that continues to delve into his relationship with the artist and his long-term influence.

(Image credit: Damiani)

Meyerowitz is not the only artist to have found solace in Morandi’s totemic portrait – Bridget Niedermair has been published. Horizon in 2016, and many architects cite the stark silence of his compositions as inspiration. Morandi’s paintings can be seen behind Fellini Price of Dolce Vita.

(Image credit: Damiani)

In 2023, Amanda Renshaw organized the exhibition of Morandi’s stuff in the Venice Palazzo Franchetti. At the celebration of the new edition, Wallpaper* discussed the updated book and the work of the Italian artist with Meyerowitz.

(Image credit: Damiani)

Wallpaper*: Before starting this project, did you ever consider Morandi as an influence in your work?

Joel Meyerowitz: No, Morandi was not a direct influence on my work because I was not really a portraitist; I was a street photographer. I loved Morandi because of his work and because of the wonder and joy of the place to look at this work. I felt like I learned a lot from seeing the way he used simple things to make profound statements, but he had no direct influence on the work I did before I went to his studio.

W*: What attracted you to this project? For art historians, many of these pragmatic things are almost sacred – how did they inform your choice of setting and background?

JM: I had a mission to make a book about Provence. While in Provence, I visited Cézanne’s studio in Aix-En-Provence. While I was in Cézanne’s studio, I noticed that he had painted the walls of his studio dark blue, and on the table against the blue wall, he was painting his still lifes, most of which were fruit. You saw his apples and oranges; sometimes there were skulls, and sometimes there were carvings, and sometimes there were bottles in his life.

I was interested to know why he used gray. In our modern art culture, artists’ studios are often white boxes. So I started to think about the gray background, and how it made things happen, without the contrast of the white wall and the given object.

So when I went back to the place where I lived, Bonnieux, Provence, I created, as an experiment for myself, a blue background, ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ and and started putting things on it to see if I could find a very good answer to why Cezanne did that. I became so interested in moving things around the blue background that I felt like I was opening myself – for the first time – to life.

(Image credit: Joel Meyerowitz)

Then, one time, I went back to Tuscany, where I lived, and I thought, ‘I will go to Bologna and visit Morandi’s studio’; I heard you can come in and see where he works. So, I went to Bologna, I looked at Morandi’s work, and I saw it was completely different from Cézanne’s, and Cézanne was an influence on Morandi.

My point is, I became interested in nature, because I had never done a still life. Suddenly, I found myself asking a question. What is still life to me? That made me improve my life, and at one point, I thought I would go to Morandi’s house, in that studio, and ask the caretakers if I could take photos of all his things and make them on his work table, so that I could show the world what Morandi was working with, and how he changed them.

(Image credit: Joel Meyerowitz)

It was a very simple way to honor Morandi’s great efforts, all those years. I promised myself that I would not mix things up to create a ‘false Morandis’; I just wanted to show people who are interested what those things look like, so they can see for themselves how he plays with them.

W*: The visuals and designs are – inevitably – very interesting. Your work covers a wide range of subjects, events and locations, often taking on intense moments. How does stills photography compare to this variety, especially in terms of lighting and framing?