Giorgio de Chirico: The Endless Journey – Wieland Schmied

Prestel, 2002
There’s not too many books on DeChirico, one of my favorite Surrealist painters. And most of those are expensive and large, so it’s nice to find this small book from Prestel. In between the mammoth reading of Barrows Dunham and Will Durant (a report on which I swear is coming), I’ve sneaked in a few “in-one-or-two-sittings” books. I picked this up at LACMA and spent my time in Phoenix (where I developed stomach flu) reading it. A good primer on DeChirico (Rule One for writing on Surrealists: Not many of them were really Surrealists. Wha?) and one that stretches out to bring in the influence of Appolinaire and how Max Ernst created art that “answered” the ideology/symbolism as seen in DeChirico’s work. I had no idea really, but Schmied makes it all very clear. The book is no hagiography–it skips the last 30 years of his career–but hits all the major points. However, don’t read if you are looking to having stomach flu-based hallucinations. I found my self in a half-awake state stuck in one of his empty plazas with his mannequins. Unpleasant.