How long is forever? Sometimes, just a second.
Lewis Carrol
The twelve paintings that make up this cycle investigate as many fleeting moments in the movement of an undressed woman as she lies down. The ambition to grasp the mystery of movement is common to many artists. Examples include Balla and Bacon, who found inspiration in Edward Muybridge’s chronophotographs. The English photographer’s sequential shots are not taken with the intention of creating the illusion of movement (like the frames of a film), but to capture and freeze the moments. If Bacon and Balla use Muybridge’s teaching to create impressions of energy and movement, Orsi unveils the paradox: the precise and sharp painting gives the image a static quality. Raffaele Carrieri [link to Memorie, text by R. Carrieri] sees another paradox in this cycle of paintings. In these figures with their marble pallor, he sees the paradoxical eroticism of chastity. Familiar with the languid eroticism of the nudes painted in the first half of the 1970s, the poet emphasises the cleanliness of the figure, achieved through a clear drafting of colour within taut outlines. In the last panel, the “chaste and unassailable” protagonist disappears between the sheets. At the foot of the bed appears the image of a deformed skull taken from Holbein’s painting The Ambassadors. This symbolism makes the cycle a modern Vanitas. The reference to Muybridge is one of Orsi’s many connections with the world of photography; it is an object of study, a source for painting and material for composing graphic advertising works. Fundamental to the artist’s life is his relationship with one of Italy’s finest photographers, Federico Patellani. The two were united by a friendship that lasted several decades crossing over into professional collaboration. Painted in 1976, the cycle was presented to the public in 1981 at Piero Fornasetti’s Galleria dei Bibliofili.
