Donatella Merlo - Artist Spotlight

We are thrilled to announce that Donatella Merlo`s artworks are now available to be licensed on bridgemanImages.com 

Discover Donatella Merlo`s work in this gallery.

Bridgeman Images' Italian team met with Donatella Merlo's daughters, Anna Maria and Monica, to discover more on their mother's life and production: 

When and how did Donatella's passion for painting begin? 

Donatella inherited her passion and inclination for painting from her father Metello Merlo and her uncle Felice Vellan, both painters. Her grandfather Camillo, Metello`s father, was also a painter, like his father Carlo, working as a decorator for the Savoia family, before him. Since she was a little child, Donatella was fascinated by their labour, and started helping out in their workshop, observing her father`s pupils, mixing colours and preparing canvases. 

“I was born in a family who talked about painting all the time. There were other subjects, perhaps, but painting was the one I was interested in. I remember my grandfather Camillo painting in his studio. I sat between his feet and handed him the colours. I remember my father and his many pupils sketching a still life, while I was sitting in a corner with my crayons. I was eight or nine years old."
 

We can definitely say that Donatella grew up surrounded by art, then. Her father Metello, her uncle Felice and her grandfather Camillo were all painters. Was this constant comparison more of an incentive or an obstacle for her?  

At the beginning, Donatella was guided by her father`s and her grandfather`s work. They were both part of a pictorial tradition connecting to late-18th Century landscape painting, post-Impressionism and the "Group of Six" of Turin`s latest experimentations on tonalism. Soon, she had to start looking for her own style, and Metello encouraged her to do so. She used to tell us this story: one day, a visiting friend mistook one of her oil paintings for a work by her father.  She attended the Accademia Albertina and Felice Casorati`s classes, which definitely helped her discover her personal artistic cipher. Around that time she was also influenced by her uncle Felice`s curiosity and tales from the world.  
 

The encounter with the master Felice Casorati was a turning point in her artistic training. Can we say that he became a mentor? What other artists influenced her? 

Casorati`s teachings completely shifted the way she looked at the pictorial space. He taught her how to investigate the relations between volumes and gaps, how to place objects in a space, and animate them with different perspectives and viewpoints. Her vision became more schematic and synthetic, she started building compositions starting from voids and then defining shapes and volumes. Another big influence was Italo Cremona`s work (we can see that in Autoritratto, 1958), as well as Albino Galvano`s, especially in later abstract works (the series Filo d’Arianna). The period of time she spent in London was also extremely fertile: she improved her watercolour tecnique by studying Constable and Turner. Back in Italy, she explored what Turin had to offer: her poetic imagery was heavily influenced by Surrealism, and her works from that time were exhibited, together with artworks by Abacuc (Silvano Gilardi), Lorenzo Alessandri, Enrico Colombotto Rosso, Italo Cremona, Guido de Bonis, Giovanni Macciotta, Raffaele Pontecorvo, at the major 1966 exhibition at "Piemonte Artistico e Culturale", curated by Italo Cremona. She loved the work of Alberto Savinio. From history of art, she grasped some aspects of lenticular Flemish paintings, she was interested in 15th Century`s masters, and in her abstract works she often referred to Paul Klee`s style, whom she admired. 

Donatella was influenced by many different styles and currents, while always pursuing her personal cipher. Did she identify herself as part of an artistic movement specifically? 

Hard to say! She was fascinated by many things, and didn`t want to bind herself to a single current. She loved to experiment with different techniques and styles, oil painting, temperas, watercolours and pastels. Drawing was always the fulcrum of her work. She also grappled with glass and mural painting. She was restless, a perfectionist; but her research was methodical, considered. She was always on the hunt for a pictorial language that could express the moment she was living.

Throughout her career, Donatella Merlo`s work was praised and extensively exhibited. What are the artistic events that she remember most fondly?

Her paintings have been exhibited for 65 years, so it would be a long list! Her participation to the Salon National des Galeries d’Art in Montréal, in 1984, represented by Ideogramma Gallery, was most certainly a milestone. After that there was Huit Peintres Réalistes in 1985, at Galerie l'Art Français.

How would you describe her approach to painting? Was she methodical or instinctive? 

She was definitely very rational, but depending on the period her life was going through she could be controlled, precise or very spontaneous. She tended to be quite hard on herself, never satisfied with her work. After a "divisionist" phase, for which she obsessively studied the light, her style became more relaxed, almost liquid. Later came her abstract phase, which was surely less rational and more serene, especially the watercolours and the pencil drawings - for example the Cascate series, realised while travelling in Argentina. 

What are the most recurring symbols in her work? 

Certainly the thematic series of conchiglie (shells) and corazze (armours) in the 60s, the mobili (furniture) and scarpe (shoes) in the 70s; then manichini (mannequins) in the 80s, cascate (waterfalls) in the 90s, fili (threads and weavings) in the 2000s. Quoting Renzo Guasco: "In Donatella`s work, pieces of furniture have a character, a personality, almost a soul (...) placed in typically middle-class interiors (...) these fractured characters create an eerie sense of unease, a vague disquiet." The pieces of furniture represent the act of moving houses, life that undergoes change and restarts somewhere else. Shells and shoes allude to femininity, sexuality and identity, but also maternity. Threads represent the passing of time, and are already present in Donatella`s early production from the Sixties. Landscapes and still lives are always present. 

What artworks are the most significant to you two? Could you choose a favourite? 

We always like to think back to La tempesta, from 1977, which is extremely significant to us daughters as it was for our mother. The sky was inspired by Giorgione`s masterpiece, and the stunning embroidery at the bottom was meticulously painted. The list would also include La scarpetta rossa, painted in 1971, probably Monica`s favourite, with the little red shoe catching fire in an icy lunar landscape; needless to say, I jeans di Anna, painted in 1986, would be Anna`s favourite. Many paintings by Donatella can be considered self-portraits. L’ora del tè, with a woman-teapot wearing a flowery dress and pouring tea like our mother used to do when living in London, is definitely one of them. Autoritratto (1958) marks the ending of her "bohemian" time abroad.  Aroldo e la castellana was the dearest of all, to her: our mother kept in in her bedroom. The couple seeking shelter from the enraged war in the background is the most romantic scene – maybe even the only one – that she has ever painted. 

How would you describe Donatella as a mother? And as a woman? 

Being a woman and a mother had an impact on her career and her life choices. When she separated from her husband, she raised two daughters on her own, always supporting herself with her work. She fought to be recognised as a professional in a male-dominated industry; and the decision to be a mother brought more challenges. Her own mother had always tried to discourage her from pursuing a career in the arts. Sometimes her paintings reflect her loneliness, often expressed through the objects. 

Why did you choose Bridgeman Images as a partner for the promotion and licensing of Donatella Merlo`s Archive? 

The Bridgeman archive has an international scope and it`s extremely attentive and dedicated to the promotion of contemporary artists. As a professional in this sector (Monica), I believe this is an essential aspect to anyone looking for original content and wanting to be safeguarded copyright-wise. 

Discover all of Donatella Merlo`s artworks in this gallery.