Marino Marini

Marino Marini is one of the foremost sculptors of twentieth-century Italy. Marini’s practice focused on modernist reinterpretations of classical themes like the equestrian figure, the female nude, and the portrait bust. Though toward the end of his career his style became increasingly abstract, Marini often drew inspiration from artistic traditions of the past, from sources as diverse as Etruscan art and the sculpture of medieval northern European craftsmen. Born in Pistoia, Marini commenced his training at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence in 1917 and from 1922 turned almost exclusively to sculpture. In 1929, he succeeded his teacher and mentor Arturo Martini as professor at the Scuola d’Arte di Villa Reale di Monza, retaining the position until 1940, when he accepted a professorship at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera. Over the course of the next two decades, Marini achieved international recognition. In 1949 his work was included in the seminal exhibition entitled Twentieth-Century Italian Art, held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the following year, the Buchholz Gallery in New York began showing his work. Exhibitions at the Hanover Gallery in London, the Kestner-Gesellschaft in Hannover, the Kunstverein in Hamburg, and the Haus der Kunst in Munich followed. He received the Grand Prize for Sculpture at the 1952 Venice Biennale and the Feltrinelli Prize at the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome in 1954. During his travels throughout Europe and to America, Marini encountered many of the leading modern artists of his day, including Giorgio de Chirico, Jean Arp, Henry Moore, Max Beckmann, Alexander Calder, and Alberto Giacometti.