End of Year List: The Artists I Admire
- Rossella BLUE Mocerino
- Nov 13, 2018
- 9 min read
Updated: 14 hours ago
Around this time of year, we start seeing lists everywhere: the best movies, the best novels, and so on. I am going to add my own: the artists I admire. Let’s see if I can keep it going until the end of the year.
No. 1 on the list is Francis Bacon. I am crazy about his work—he influenced me to create my first triptych, and I am now working on my first pentaptych.
No. 2 on my list of artists I admire: Amedeo Modigliani.
As a little girl in Italy, seeing a painting by Modigliani gave me my very first glimpse of what art is truly about. Thank you, Modigliani, for touching my heart and changing the course of my life.
No. 3 on my list of artists I admire: Carlo Scarpa. Not quite an architect, not quite a glassmaker—and yet, he excelled at both.
No. 4 on my list of artists I admire: Jacopo da Pontormo.
Usually, you would have to go to Florence to see the best of Pontormo, but this painting is currently in New York at the Morgan Library. I love what I call the "Pontormo face." I once saw a man on the subway who looked as if he had stepped straight out of a Pontormo canvas.
No. 5 on my list of artists I admire: Giuseppe Verdi.
Verdi was not only a great opera composer but also a truly good man. In 1896, he founded the Casa di Riposo per Musicisti in Milan—a retirement home for musicians who weren't as fortunate in life as he was—which is still active today. I am proud to share my birthday with Maestro Verdi.
No. 6 on my list of artists I admire: poet Countee Cullen.
I will be exhibiting in 2019 at the Countee Cullen Library in Harlem with a show entitled “Dreams in a Silken Cloth.” The title comes from one of Cullen’s superb epitaphs, and part of the exhibition programming will feature a reading of his poems.
No. 7 on my list of artists I admire: Giovanni Bellini and his many Madonna and Child paintings.
This is a detail of a painting found in a small chapel inside San Francesco della Vigna in Venice. Far off the typical tourist path, whenever I visit, I get to sit there with a Bellini all to myself—no guards, no crushing crowds, no noise.
No. 8 on my list of artists I admire: Leonard Cohen.
It takes great courage to face death and say: “I am ready, my Lord.”
No. 9 on my list of artists I admire: Giorgio de Chirico.
De Chirico brings to mind shadows and enigma, unexplored horizons and mystery everywhere—all elements that I love to explore in my own work.
No. 10 on my list of artists I admire: Nina Simone.
There are a lot of singers out there, but only one Nina Simone. Her music kept me warm and gave me company when I first moved out of my parents' home. Now Starbucks has started playing her music—how thrilling!
No. 11 on my list of artists I admire: Giorgio Morandi.
“One can travel this world and see nothing. To achieve understanding it is necessary not to see many things, but to look hard at what you do see.”
No. 12 on my list of artists I admire: Roberto Capucci and his sculpted dresses.
From art to fashion? Or from fashion to art? There aren't always clear demarcations between creative fields.
No. 13 on my list of artists I admire: Antonio Canova.
I didn’t like his sculptures at first—I thought they were too classical. But now, I can’t take my eyes off his work. He was known by his contemporaries as “the supreme minister of beauty.” Incidentally, this Canova piece is currently at the Getty Museum.
No. 14 on my list of artists I admire: E. M. Forster.
He is my favorite author—after all, we all need A Room with a View. Shown here is the monument to Forster in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, near Rooks Nest House where he grew up.
No. 15 on my list of artists I admire: Virginia Woolf.
After all, we all need A Room of One's Own.
No. 16 on my list of artists I admire: Adolfo Wildt.
I once came across a description of his sculptures as “masks of human pain”—and truly, no other words could better describe his extraordinary work.
No. 17 on my list of artists I admire: James Baldwin.
Someone has got to tell it on the mountain.
“In this country … if you’re an artist, you’re guilty of a crime: not that you’re aware, which is bad enough, but that you see things other people don’t admit are there.”
No. 18 on my list of artists I admire: Maria Callas.
When soprano Maria Callas sings, you stop whatever you are doing and you listen.
No. 19 on my list of artists I admire: El Anatsui.
I first came across his large tapestries, made out of bottle caps and other found materials, at an exhibition at Palazzo Fortuny in Venice. His work is perfect when displayed in Venice—it brings to mind a fading, yet still vibrant and shimmering beauty.
No. 20 on my list of artists I admire: Giorgio Bassani.
See if you can top this description of antisemitism from The Garden of the Finzi-Continis:
“One of the most odious forms of anti-Semitism was precisely this: to complain that Jews aren't sufficiently like other people, and then, the opposite, once they've become almost totally assimilated with their surroundings, to complain that they're just like everybody else, not even a fraction distinguished from the average.”
No. 21 on my list of artists I admire: Johannes Vermeer.
Simply art for art’s sake. Vermeer produced only 34 paintings—a small output, but a monumental addition to the history of art.
No. 22 on my list of artists I admire: Muriel Spark.
2018 marked the centenary of the birth of the Scottish writer, best known as the author of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
“Be on the alert to recognize your prime at whatever time of your life it may occur.”
No. 23 on my list of artists I admire: Tintoretto.
Marking the 500th anniversary of his birth, I’m reminded of how full of movement and immense energy his work has always been. He is truly a Venetian artist through and through, having left the city only once in his entire lifetime.
No. 24 on my list of artists I admire: Leontyne Price.
I still remember how shaken I was by her farewell performance in Aida—and I wasn’t the only one. The audience couldn’t stop applauding when she sang “O patria mia.” A truly great Verdi soprano.
No. 25 on my list of artists I admire: Marino Marini.
Italian sculptor Marino Marini is a fellow Viareggino—I was born in Viareggio, and Marini died there. His innumerable variations of a figure on a horse are all superb.
No. 26 on my list of artists I admire: Alberto Giacometti.
As I see it, to be an artist, not only must you observe and have a vision, but you must also be true to your own vision.
No. 27 on my list of artists I admire: Oskar Kokoschka.
I admire him for his intense portraits—an intensity that is carried through every single inch of the canvas.
No. 28 on my list of artists I admire: Antonio Vivaldi.
Every time a trip to Venice is approaching, Vivaldi’s music pops into my head.
No. 29 on my list of artists I admire: Alexander McQueen.
If we are going to talk about performance art, then Alexander McQueen’s catwalks were artistic events in their own right. In the iconic moment captured here, a model spins around on a rotating platform as two robotic arms spray paint onto her dress.
No. 30 on my list of artists I admire: Bronzino.
Bronzino’s young men have attitude. They look at you and say: “Too bad you don’t like what you see, because this is who I am.” This Bronzino is in New York at the Met.
No. 31 on my list of artists I admire: Luciano Pavarotti.
Go ahead and criticize his technical capacity, but Luciano Pavarotti is, and rightly so, one of the greatest tenors of all time. I was lucky enough to hear him sing many times at the Met.
No. 32 on my list of artists I admire: Mexican artist Francisco Zúñiga.
I create art, so I don’t usually buy art—but we have a signed Zúñiga lithograph hanging over our couch (not the one shown here).
No. 33 on my list of artists I admire: Heath Ledger.
If you think one cannot accomplish much in just 28 years of life, how about posthumously winning an Oscar?
No. 34 on my list of artists I admire: Judi Dench.
At what age should an artist stop working? How about never.
No. 35 on my list of artists I admire: Slovene painter Zoran Mušič.
What does it mean to say a person survived a Nazi concentration camp? Zoran Mušič survived. Take a look at his work: the people in his paintings are shadows of themselves.
No. 36 on my list of artists I admire: Joseph Brodsky.
Russian-born poet Joseph Brodsky was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1972, but with the help of friends, he was able to come to the US. I have a few things in common with Brodsky: a love for Venice, residence in the West Village, and apparently, a fondness for cats. I even visited his grave at San Michele, the cemetery island of Venice.
No. 37 on my list of artists I admire: Gustav Klimt.
Is it a contradiction in terms to say I don’t like Art Nouveau, but I do like Gustav Klimt’s work? From a historical point of view, the Viennese society he painted doesn’t exist anymore—it came to an end with World War II.
No. 38 on my list of artists I admire: Stefan Zweig.
I was shocked to find a stenciled warning at the beginning of a couple of his books borrowed from the library: “The author of this book committed suicide.” What exactly was that implying? Did a librarian actually do that to a book?
No. 39 on my list of artists I admire: Filmmaker Wes Anderson.
He made The Grand Budapest Hotel, which is based on Stefan Zweig’s work. When a filmmaker truly understands an author, the result is monumental.
No. 40 on my list of artists I admire: Giacomo Puccini.
If I had to write an epitaph for myself, it would be “Vissi d’arte” (I lived for art). In Puccini’s Tosca, the protagonist sings these famous words before jumping to her death. Puccini lived in Torre del Lago, near Viareggio where I was born.
No. 41 on my list of artists I admire: Authors John Berendt and Muriel Barbery.
If I had to recommend a book about Venice, it would be Berendt’s The City of Falling Angels. If I had to recommend a book I love, it would be The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery.
No. 42 on my list of artists I admire: Louise Bourgeois.
In an art world historically dominated by men, I admire any woman who makes it to the top.
No. 43 on my list of artists I admire: Filmmaker Jem Cohen.
Sometimes an artist needs encouragement. Is it worth continuing with this madness called art? Then you see Jem Cohen’s film Museum Hours, and the answer is yes, yes, and yes.
No. 44 on my list of artists I admire: Novelist Barbara Pym.
If there is an artist who is forever underappreciated—but not by me—it’s novelist Barbara Pym. When you find someone else who likes her work, you feel like you are part of a secret literary society.
No. 45 on my list of artists I admire: Egon Schiele.
If you think art is about making pretty pictures, you are in for a great shock.
No. 46 on my list of artists I admire: Richard Avedon.
Avedon’s portrait photography is remarkably timeless. Take his portrait of George Wallace: even if you didn’t know Wallace was a white supremacist, his facial expression gives him away. Notice how Avedon captures the paranoia by positioning a Black man standing right behind him.
No. 48 on my list of artists I admire: Freddie Mercury.
Freddie Mercury was the ultimate performer, successfully remaking himself several times throughout his career.
No. 49 on my list of artists I admire: Author Amara Lakhous.
Originally from Algeria and now living in Rome, he writes about immigrants trying to adapt to life in an Italian city. But the specific details don’t even matter—anyone who is an immigrant, including myself, can deeply relate to his work.
No. 50 on my list of artists I admire: Henry James.
When you can’t take the fast pace of everyday life anymore, it’s time to take Henry James off the shelves. James, like me, was a Venice lover.
As long as there is art and artists who inspire my own creativity, I will be able to face the challenges the New Year brings. Shown here is the center panel of the pentaptych (5 panels) I am working on now.
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