09/02/2021
Photographer Abelardo Morell uses the camera obscura technique described by Leonardo da Vinci in his “Codex Atlanticus” (1478). It became a popular drawing and painting aid in the 15th century when artists discovered that by pricking a pinpoint hole in a box and allowing light to shine through, they could capture inverted projections of whatever was outside that box. Morell's photographs turn entire rooms into a camera obscura that becomes not only the tool but the medium and the subject. The show “Abelardo Morell: Projecting Italy" is on view at the Fitchburg Art Museum in Fitchburg, Massachusetts beginning Sept. 5th.
On view at the Fitchburg Art Museum, the photos capture multiple levels of ravishing beauty and arresting grandeur, layered and folded in upon themselves, the way art and genius so frequently are in Italy.
