When Is Influence More Than Inspiration?

“It is a simple fact that artists influence artists. But an artist overwhelmed by another’s influence is far less interesting than one who makes use of the first artist’s influences to develop his own individuality. Looking at this issue is ‘Morandi’s Legacy: Influences on British Art,’ an exhibition at the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art in London until June 18. It takes a quiet master of 20th-century art, Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964), and places his oils and etchings – still lifes and landscapes – next to more recent works of notable originality that may be connected in various ways with Morandi.”