Homesickness of an Engineer
Artist
Giorgio de Chirico
(Italian, 1888-1978)
CultureItalian
Date1916
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions13 1/4 x 10 1/4 in. (33.7 x 26 cm)
Overall, Frame: 18 × 15 1/4 × 1 3/4 in. (45.7 × 38.7 × 4.4 cm)
Other (Crate size): 29 × 28 × 13 in. (73.7 × 71.1 × 33 cm)
Overall, Frame: 18 × 15 1/4 × 1 3/4 in. (45.7 × 38.7 × 4.4 cm)
Other (Crate size): 29 × 28 × 13 in. (73.7 × 71.1 × 33 cm)
InscribedOn the orange circular form, bottom center: "G. de Chirico"
Credit LineAnonymous gift
Object number81.148
On View
Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 220
Label TextGiorgio de Chirico Italian, 1888–1978 Homesickness of an Engineer, 1916 Oil on canvas Giorgio de Chirico’s pictures tend to ask more questions than they answer. Here, the self-described metaphysical painter used unexpected combinations of common objects, unusual perspective, and fractured space to create a scene that is at once familiar and strangely disquieting. You may wonder about specifics (for example, what are the various objects in the painting and how do they relate to the engineer in the title?), but the overall effect of the work is a palpable sense of longing. Such unease and uncertainty is not altogether surprising in a painting created during the depths of World War I. Anonymous gift 81.148 ProvenanceThe artist's studio, Ferrara, Italy. To Paul Guillaume, likely in 1916. Until 1917, the Galerie Paul Guillaume, Paris. Purchased by Serge Diaghilev, March 1917. Gift to Leonide Massine, Paris, March/April 1917. Purchased by Mary Harriman, date unknown. Mary Harriman Gallery, New York. Purchased by Alfred H. Barr, Jr., on behalf of Helen Lansdowne Resor and Roger Stanley Resor, New York (then New Canaan, CT). Gift to daughter Helen Resor Hauge, before or ca. 1940. Collection of Helen Resor Hauge and Gabriel Hauge, Norfolk, VA. Anonymous gift to Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, November 1981.Exhibition History"The Other Faces of Modern Art," Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen (Dusseldorf), Sept. 15 - Dec. 1, 2001; Lenbachhaus (Munich), Dec. 21, 2001 - March 11, 2002. "Metafisica," Scuderie del Quirinale, Rome, Italy, Sept. 26, 2003 - Jan. 6, 2004. "Enigma Variations: Philip Guston and Giorgio de Chirico," Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA, September 9th - November 25th, 2006. “De Chirico a Ferrara, 1915-1918: Pittura metafisica e avanguardie europee,” Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara, Italy, November 14, 2015 - February 28, 2016. “Post Zang Tumb Tuuum. Art Life Politics: Italia 1918–1943,” Fondazione Prada, Milan, February 18, 2018 – June 25, 2018. “De Chirico and the invention of Metaphysical Painting 1908-1919,” Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris, France, September 14 - December 14, 2020; and as "De Chirico: Magical Reality," Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany; January 22 - April 25, 2021.Published ReferencesPaolo Baldacci and Wieland Schmied, _Die Andere Moderne De Chirico Savinio_, exh. cat., Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany, 2001, 250. Ester Coen, _Metafisica_, exh. cat., Scuderie del Quirinale, Rome, Italy, 2003, 82, 263, 292. Michael R.Taylor and Lisa Melandri, foreword by Elsa Longhauser, _Enigma Variations: Philip Guston and Giorgio De Chirico_, exh.cat., Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, California, 2006, 30, 52 plate 15. Paolo Baldacci, et. al., _De Chirico a Ferrara: Metafiscica e Avanguardie_ (Ferrara: Fondazione Ferrara Arte, 2015) 191, cat. no. 9. Paolo Baldacci, et. al., _Giorgio de Chirico: Magie der Moderne_ (Stuttgart: Staatsgalerie Stuttgart with Sandstein Verlag, 2016) 184, abb. 8. Paolo Baldacci, ed., _Giorgio de Chirico: La Peinture Métaphysique_, exh. cat., Musées d'Orsay et de l'Orangerie and Hamburger Kunsthalle, 2020, 167, fig. 123.
