This book is a must for the serious collector of great De Chirico's graphic prints. The astounding informative nature of the subject of De Chirico prints from 1969 to 1977 must have taken a long time to compile. For De Chirico is very unknown in the United States, yet, in Europe he is considered by most as the Father of Surrealis. Both Magritte and Dali hailed him as a pioneer of metaphysical surrealistic imagery. This book is a wonderful reference for the serious collector. * A personal note - in my travels to Florence, Italy, I entered the Uffizi were is housed the worlds greatest collection of Renaissance Fine Art (owned at one time by the De Medici family) when I discovered , as I entered, the master sculpture work entitled "The Archaeologist" of none other than Giorgio De Chirico. De Chirico is the only artist of the 20th century that I know of to be exhibited in the great Uffizi.

De Chirico is commonly seen as the first surrealist. He is also the creator of the most profound paintings ever. But Baldacci engages for too long in horse manure "painting analysis"; when the whole point of de Chirico's paintings is that they can't be analyzed with words. If Baldacci wanted to comment on de Chricio, he should have been a painter himself. Describing de Chirico's paintings with words is both ineffective and unsatisfying. Also, Baldacci talks a lot about Nietzsche and other philosophers whom de Chirico liked. While his comments are usually in the spirit of Nietzsche's philosophy and reflect many of de Chirico's own beliefs, I suggest you yourself read Nietzsche or Walter Kaufmann's commentary on Nietzsche ("Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist") because Baldacci is at times off, and in any case you will get an incomplete picture of Nietzsche if you just read this book. De Chirico's life is a tragic reminder of a revolution in human approach to the world that could have thrived after Nietzsche fortold its coming; instead, it was extinguished, and only some of Nietzsche's other prophecies, WWI, II, and the Holocaust, became true.

This is a catalogue of a very small show (seen only at the Hunter College, NY, art gallery in fall 1996) which focused on De Chirico's brief time in America and the artistic use he made of it. But the catalogue's text extends well beyond this narrow subject into a full-scale re-evaluation of this much-misunderstood (and frequently reviled) genius of Metaphysical Art. (Fagiolo dell'Arco, by the way, is responsible only for a single article. The catalogue was edited by Emily Braun, and both the catalogue and exhibit were under her guidance, with the help of her students in Art History.) A very fine addition to the De Chirico literature.

In the first section, this book is the best set of personal memoirs I have ever read, surpassing even Robert Graves' "Goodbye to All That". De Chirico could have been a great novelist, had he chosen that path. His descriptions of a childhood in Greece are unforgettable.

But his novel "Hebdomeros" was also a beautiful piece of writing. It's interesting that three major painters associated with surrealism, De Chirico, Dali and Magritte, were also great writers. (De Chirico would hate to be associated with surrealism, but like it or not - he's their Daddy.)

I'm disappointed in part II of the memoirs. I'm also disappointed in what de Chirico does not tell us in part I. He barely touches on his relationship with Apollinaire, wherein the poet would give titles to some of de Chirico's paintings. He doesn't mention his thoughts on learning of Apollinaire's death. He doesn't tell us which paintings he titled, and which were given names by Apollinaire.

On one page, Paul Eluard had good enough taste to purchase his paintings, and thus was not beyond redemption. Yet on the very next page, Eluard was an onanist and a mystical cretin. What happened in a few paragraphs to change his opinion of the man? De Chirico doesn't tell us, except to blame the corruption of Eluard on Andre Breton.

Many details important to students of the era were not even mentioned. Isabella Far is written about at length. Yet de Chirico does not even mention his wedding to her. They are companions for decades and suddenly, he refers to her as his wife. Duh? When did you get married? Where were you? What was the wedding like? Somebody correct me if I overlooked something.

He outlived almost all of his enemies, (and according to de Chirico, his enemies were more numerous than the stars in the sky). He outlived almost all of the surrealists. What did he think when learning of the deaths of Eluard or Breton? What was his opinion of Magritte, to whom he had once written a friendly thank you note? What was it Magritte had written to him?

Unfortunately, details like this are not to be found. Instead, we get an enemies list of Italian critics and modernist painters, whose names most readers in the English-speaking world will not recognize.

Even so, the character revealed in these memoirs is unique. He's obsessive, paranoid, romantic, imperious to the modern world, and at times comical. But he is always guided by a stubborn integrity and a search for what he called "mystery and poetry".

Yet, he is involved in such comical episodes. He's been accused of forging his early paintings and selling them. He's accused of denouncing some of his genuine early paintings as forgeries because he was jealous of the high prices they were drawing. His later work could not command such high prices. Even stranger and more ironic, he's accused of forging his own paintings and then denouncing his forgeries as forgeries!

Despite these absurd adventures, no painter ever left a body of work that was more replete with mystery. No painter was ever more poetic. Rene Magritte credits de Chirico with teaching him that the supreme art was poetry, and that a painter at his best, could be a poet with his brush and canvas.

More than any 20th Century painter, de Chirico's greatest paintings were like that. They were poems, songs of love. And they will haunt generations to come, long after Picasso, Matisse, and Monet have been forgotten. At their best, these memoirs are a haunting, unforgettable poem.

De Chirico, historically the first (small s) surrealist (even the Surrealists admit this) was exalted as a visionary for his earliest paintings, then conveniently vilified by his followers (led by the despicable Andre Breton) when he radically changed his style. The bitterness and frustration of this situation (and it was a long frustration -- De Chirco lived well into his nineties) is very much to the fore in this remarkable book. The mysterious qualities of his painting, too, are much in evidence, and great care is lavished on seemingly trivial incidents whose significance is left very much to the reader's own cogitations. Unforgettable are such passages as his defense of "maisons closes" (whorehouses) as decent workplaces, his memories of the Dalcroze-inspired Braun sisters, and the strange juxtaposition of his being required as a boy to kiss a priest's hand with the frustration of having always to refuse his barbers' offers of a rubdown. Not a book for everyone, surely, but for those seeking to unravel one of the great enigmas of 20th century art, essential. Footnote: De Chirico's status as a painter is currently going through a fascinating process of re-evaluation, and the "new" case for De Chirico is perhaps most eloquently put forth in a beautifully produced catalogue from Hunter College and the Fondazione Giorgio e Isa DeChirico in Rome, titled "Giorgio De Chirico and America," filled with superb reproductions, documentary photographs and stimulating essays.

excellent photos.

a fascinating period, the pre-surrealist era. not much has been
published about de chirico's brother, alberto savinio, musician, poet, and painter, who contributed more to de chirico's development than commonly known.

unfortunately this book is marred by poor organization and writing. after developing interesting thoughts, baldacci then admits that there is not evidence to support his suppositions..."probably", "if", "doubtless", "we can even imagine", and so on. i've read better papers by undergraduates. better writers would summarize where baldacci chooses to drag in long, diffuse quotations.

baldacci is fascinated by unknowns about de chirico. much about the past may remain unknown, a fact of life.

True surrealism is the most profound form of art because it tackles the absurdities and contradictions of our modern world and helps us to work them out through our Subconsciousness and dreams. The first time I saw an exhibition of de Chirico's works, I had extremely vivid and memorable dreams for a week after and felt "cured."

But like any religion that can deeply touch people, Surrealism, once it became famous also attracted its fair share of quacks and charlatans. This is why de Chirico is so important: In the same way that Patti Smith was 'punk' before Punk Rock was officially invented, de Chirico was a surrealist before the Surrealist Movement took conscious shape with Andre Breton's shrill "Manifesto of Surrealism" in 1924. De Chirico didn't jump on the bandwagon. He was pulling it!

This worthy but pricey (therefore minus a couple of stars) book focuses on this early period when de Chirico was happily pursuing his own path into the twilight, undisturbed by the excessive fuss that the Surrealist movement and its showmen, like Dali, later whipped up.

Paintings like "The Endless Voyage" (1914) show a jarring clutter of objects setting up intangible lines of tension, often with humorous results. In effect, his art works like the human brain, abstracting images and objects from their natural context and relocating them to the landscape of the mind and memory.

Setting the stage with his deserted cityscapes painted with sharp contrasts of light and shadow, distorted perspectives, and a blurring of the border between interior and exterior, de Chirico evokes a haunting, ominous, but strangely relaxing dream world. This deep psychological aspect of his paintings has him constantly reinterpreting themes, leading to recurrent motifs. In these early paintings lavishly reproduced in this massive tome, he constantly uses statues as focal points, later replaced by his trademark faceless mannequins. Other mysterious objects further increase the element of enigma.

De Chirico was a surrealist more by accident than design and his work relied less heavily on overt humor and shock than the more famous surrealists who followed him, like Dali and Magritte. De Chirico's focus was always on beauty and the creation of moods through an appeal to a deeper psychological language. For this reason, while much surrealist work has dated like an old joke, Chirico's art is still as fresh as ever.

This book is on the highest level of scholarship and aesthetic criticism, bringing together many facets of art, philosophy and literature that gave birth to de Chirico's great works. Paolo Baldacci is a brilliant and erudite writer and an expert on this important, original artist. I am very disappointed that this excellent work is now out of print. The reproductions are of the highest quality as well, and this is a book that should be on the shelf of everyone interested in surrealism.