Mario Merz

Mario Merz ( born January 1, 1925 in Milan, † 9 November 2003 in Turin ) was an Italian artist and master of the Arte Povera.

Life and work

Mario Merz grew up in Turin and studied medicine at the University of Turin. During the Second World War he joined the anti-fascist group " Giustizia e Libertà ". In this context, he was arrested in 1945 and spent a short time in prison. During this period, his devotion to art began. Initially painted Merz oil paintings, in 1960 he created informal spiral images. From 1960, he turned away from the informal art; He started in the things themselves metaphors for the relationship nature - to seek culture; there he created his now famous light objects. In these works he combined neon lights and neon with everyday things such as bottles and umbrellas.

Arte Povera

In 1967, Mario Merz concluded with the artists Gianni Anselmo, Alighiero Boetti, Luciano Fabro, Jannis Kounellis, Giulio Pasolini, Giuseppe Penone, Michelangelo Pistoletto and Gilberto Zorio to a loose group together. Germano Celant ( born 1940 ), art critic and curator who coined the term Arte Povera group. Merz is a major representative of the Arte Povera. From 1968 came first - typical of his work - igloos made ​​of various materials such as glass, pastures, etc. The igloo is for Merz a metaphor for the ideal organic form of the original.

From 1977 onwards, gestural, colorful intense painting with integration of objects and the Fibonacci numbers arose.

Mario Merz was self-taught artist, died in 2003 in Turin, where he had also worked the entire lifetime. Mario Merz was with the Italian artist Marisa Merz ( born 1931 ) married.

Awards

Exhibitions (selection)

Public collections

  • ARCO Foundation Collection, Madrid
  • Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht
  • Castello di Rivoli, Turin
  • Centro Luigi Pecci, Prato
  • Fondazione Merz, Turin
  • Frac Lorraine, Metz
  • Galleria d' Arte Moderna, Turin
  • Modern Art Gallery, Schaffhausen
  • Kröller -Müller Museum, Otterlo
  • Kunsthalle Mannheim
  • Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz
  • Kunstmuseum St. Gallen
  • Kunstmuseum Winterthur
  • Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg
  • Art collection in the House of the Estates, Dusseldorf
  • Trento e Rovereto Mart
  • Migros Museum, Zurich
  • Musée d'art contemporain, Bordeaux
  • Musée d' Art Moderne de Saint- Etienne
  • Museu Serralves, Porto
  • Museum Brandhorst, Munich
  • Museum Folkwang, Essen
  • Museum of Contemporary Art, Karlsruhe
  • Museum Ludwig Cologne
  • Museum of Modern Art Vienna
  • Neue Galerie, Graz
  • Neue Galerie, Kassel
  • Neues Museum Weserburg, Bremen
  • Reina Sofía, Madrid
  • Goetz Collection, Munich
  • SMAK Gent
  • Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
  • Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven

Fondazione Merz

  • Since 2005 there is a foundation ( Fondazione Merz ) in Turin, which is entrusted with the administration of the estate of the artist. It is housed in a former boiler house of the company Lancia and is led by the artist's daughter, Beatrice Merz.
November 9 Italy documenta Praemium Imperiale documenta 5 Integrated Authority File
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