Quatro Stagioni Study #7
Artist
Tino Zago
(Italian-American, born 1937)
Date1990
MediumPastel
Dimensions29 × 43 1/4 in. (73.7 × 109.9 cm)
ClassificationsDrawing
Object numberUAC2890
DescriptionQuatro Stagioni Study #7 exemplifies the feeling of water. In its three major sections, the colors go from very dark with specks of white, through a brightly colored middle with all sorts of hatchmarks and white, before going back to a similar deep colored right side. Though on its side, the left resembles a large body of water, either at late sunset or just at the peak of dawn with the color coming in from the farthest points of the picture plane. In the middle, there is the sense of spots and motion, with colors that make it resemble the rich ecosystem of a reef. On the right the viewer is returned to rich colors with specks of white, as if we are returned from a dive beneath the waves.The Quatro Stagioni Study series is a set of sketches that Tino Zago did in preparation for a more elaborate project of paintings that are all multi-paneled and, in some cases, have individual names beyond just the name of the set. However, the series of studies are all done with pastel on paper, with a wide variety of colors and patterns and marks. One thing that each piece of the series has in common is that they are divided into segments, usually delineated through the use of contrasts of color if not lines of black pastel outright. The series explores a kind of abstracted landscape through various different combinations of colors and rough figural markings, each seeming to evoke different seasons of the year even on the level of individual sketches.
Tino Zago is an italian-american artist who works often in abstract works. He came to the United States in 1948 and went on to study painting at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, where he got his MFA in painting, as well as at Yale University. He has exhibited extensively in New York, and can be found in a long list of art collections. His work, especially later in his career, is influenced by the landscapes and atmospheres of Mushaboom, Nova Scotia and Venezia, Italy, where he travels every year.
Written by Alex Heath
