THE CYNTHIA CORBETT GALLERY

PIETROPOLI London 2011

FOREWORD

In this work Pietropoli places his model into city views. She is a real woman; an actual beauty. The artist uses her to interfere withthe landscape, revealing his state of mind at the moment he captured the view. Her appearance directs the narrative, symbolic orlyrical nature of each piece.

The narrative, for example, takes shape in Victoriae R. VIII, 2011 as the nude model holds a mask to her face with both hands andconfronts us before the Duke of Wellington Statue, situated outside The Bank of England, London. At the same time a scene playsout with ancient Grecian artisans on the temple's frontispiece and a lonely man waits beneath a clock, all witnessed by the crudelight of a stormy sky.

César Imperator, 2011 is a symbolic piece wherein the model faces the statue of Emperor Julius Caesar found in the Louvre, Paris.His military breastplate corresponds with her corset. His scepter -- a symbol of authority -- challenges her lace (itself a delicatesuggestion with power of its own) which the model manipulates behind her back. In Andromeda, 2011 the willing and easygoingnude model confronts the furious and frightening Griffin which tops the Temple Bar Memorial, London.

The lyrical pieces find the model atop London's emblematic monuments; solitary, fragile but proud like Victories in tempestuousand romantic skies. The Londonian architecture amplifies this effect, just as the baroque cupolas and peaks focus on the happyfreedom of the Age of Enlightenment.

Finally, the show is balanced by pieces of intimacy with the model alone and, at times, cloned into parts, his composition of TroisGrâces, 2011 is a re-imaging of ‘The Three Graces’.

Monica Battagliola. New York, March 2011.

THE CYNTHIA CORBETT GALLERY

PIETROPOLILandscape “Vedute” and intimate scenes

Private View: Tuesday 21 June, 6 – 9 pmJazz Reception: Tuesday 28 June, 6 – 9 pmExhibition runs 20 June – 2 July 2011An off-site exhibition presented by The Cynthia Corbett GalleryGallery 27, 27 Cork Street, Mayfair, London W1S 3NGNearest Tube: Green ParkHours: Daily 11am – 7pm or by appointmentT. +44 (0) 20 8947 6782 M. UK +44 (0) 7939 085 076

For a catalogue and to RSVP for events please email: celia@thecynthiacorbettgallery.comExhibition transfers to Wimbledon Gallery 6 July – 6 August 2011 by appointment

Front Cover: Victoriae R VIIIoil on linen prepared with copper130 x 97 cm

Opposite: Nu Penchéoil on linen92 x 31 cm

Landscape "Vedute" and intimate scenes

Patrick Pietropoli was born in Paris in 1953, and has spent much of his professional life in the city.Since 1990, he has consistently exhibited in both solo and group shows. He has executed commissionsin the form of frescoes and monumental sculpture for the Mutualite Francaise, and has exhibitednationally in Italy, France, Belgium and America. Other exhibitions include; Catherine Guerard Galerie,Crema Museum, and Galerie Claudine Legrand in Paris, 2011.

His work is in both private and public collections, including a recent acquisition by the Museum ofMelun, France. His work can also be found in the permanent collection of the Musée de la Marine,Place de la Concorde, Paris.

After relocating to New York in 2008, he has continued to exhibit in his native country, as well as being represented at internationalart fairs. The exhibition with The Cynthia Corbett Gallery represents his debut solo show in London.

The "figure-vedute" relationship in my work has always been dominant. I was obsessed by two contradictory ideas: to represent thecity, "le dehors" (outside) in its complex architectural form, and the woman, "le dedans" (inside) the everyday softness of femininity.I struggled to reconcile these two recurring ideas in my work.

As a painter of landscapes, I refused the picturesque nature of street scenes, choosing to portray urban landscapes akin to the teeming,gaily-coloured world of the paintings of Canaletto or Guardi. As a portraitist, I eliminated everything that was outside of the subject:no scenario, no specific location, no symbols. That is why in the past I only represented one at a time, temporally forgetting the desireto fuse them together.

However in my mind, this fusion was always present, and when I began to explore the city of New York this reconciliation becamepossible: rather than remove the omnipresent billboard posters, I would place the female figures I created within them. New Yorkallowed me to blend the urban and the feminine, the outside and the inside.

I thought about depicting the traditional female form in the same style as manipulated digital images of the modern world. Thismerging of tradition with technology was unsuccessful. The women I painted were real, and therefore imperfect, in opposition to thedoctored photographic images we see all around us. Even though I had projected them into the urban environment, plastering themacross billboards, my paintings were still true to the model.

If New York was the catalyst for this marriage of figure and landscape, then London pushed the idea further. Here prominent statuaryformed the fabric of the landscape; the figure was not at odds with its surroundings, it was embedded in it. In this historicalenvironment, I could place my nudes on the tops of towers and the pinnacles of monuments. In London, a dialogue between theliving and the inanimate seemed possible, a sensual, feminine physicality represented in bronze and stone.

Patrick Pietropoli. New York, March 2011.

Façades de Midtown, 2011oil on linen97 x 130 cm

Mariée de dos oil on linen prepared with Copper150 x 50 cm

Confrontation oil on linen

152.5 x 51 cm

Eros Triumphans oil on linen prepared with Copper100 x 50 cm

Pièce Montée oil on linen prepared with gold100 x50 cm

Caesar Imperator oil on linen prepared with Copper60 x 50 cm

Michel Ange oil on linen

130 x 97 cm

Le jardin des Tuileries oil on linen117 x 117 cm

Les Trois Musesoil on linen

117 x 117 cm

Vigie oil on linen152.5 x 51 cm

Emancipation oil on linen

152.5 x 51 cm

Trois Grâces oil on linen prepared with copper 92 x 60 cm

Muse de dos oil on linen92 x 31 cm

Muse en rouge oil on linen92 x 31 cm

L'Inspiration oil on linen81 x 54 cm

L'hommage oil on linen prepared with copper

117 x 117 cm

Saint Sébastien oil on linen 130 x 97 cm

The World Trade Centeroil on linen 97 x 130 cm

The illustrations in this catalogue represent a selection of images to be shown in the exhibition.

Sizes given for all images are unframed height x width in centimetres. All works completed in 2011.

All works are available for sale on receipt of this catalogue.

For further information regarding forthcoming exhibitions and art fairs please visit our website:www.thecynthiacorbettgallery.com

Back Cover: Andromède oil on linen prepared with Copper

60 x 50 cm

THE CYNTHIA CORBETT GALLERYinfo@thecynthiacorbettgallery.com www.thecynthiacorbettgallery.comT. +44 (0) 20 8947 6782 M. UK +44 (0) 7939 085 076