Arte Povera was an Italian art movement that emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The term "Arte Povera" literally means "poor art" or "impoverished art," and it refers to the use of humble, everyday materials in the creation of art.
The main artists of the Arte Povera movement include Giovanni Anselmo, Alighiero Boetti, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Luciano Fabro, Jannis Kounellis, Mario Merz, Marisa Merz, Giulio Paolini, Pino Pascali, and Michelangelo Pistoletto.
Some iconic artworks from the Arte Povera movement include:
- Jannis Kounellis's "12 Horses" (1969), which featured 12 live horses installed in a gallery space alongside piles of coal and other materials.
- Mario Merz's "Igloo di Giap" (1968), which was a large, igloo-shaped structure made out of metal tubing and covered with a tarp.
- Pier Paolo Calzolari's "Untitled (Ice Table)" (1969), which was a table made out of metal and filled with blocks of ice.
- Michelangelo Pistoletto's "Venus of the Rags" (1967), which was a sculpture that combined a marble statue of the goddess Venus with piles of rags.
The cultural, political, and economic context of the Arte Povera movement was marked by a period of social and political upheaval in Italy. The country was undergoing a period of rapid industrialization and urbanization, which had led to a sense of alienation and disenchantment among many artists and intellectuals. Additionally, Italy was experiencing a period of political unrest, with student protests and labor strikes becoming more common. The Arte Povera movement emerged as a response to these social and political conditions, with artists seeking to create works that were critical of consumer culture and the art market, and that emphasized the use of simple, everyday materials.
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