In this century Pistoia has been the birthplace
of some famous and important artists and architects and today it
preserves their memory in several Centers that have been dedicated
to them (
vi/vs50/51).
Among these figures we find Marino Marini who was born on February
27, 1901 in the family house at number 13, via San Pietro, next
to the church of the same name (
vs30)
The equestrian statue typical of the Italian sculptural tradition
(examples are the Marco Aurelio on the Campidoglio in Rome or the
Gattamelata by Donatello in Padova) is one of the symbolic images
that make up Marino's figurative repertory. It is the composition
that responds best to the psychological and moral issues raised
by the historical events to which the Pistoian artist had been a
witness. The sculptor himself once declared during an interview:
My statues of riders express the anguish caused by the events of
my time. My horse's agitation increases in every new work; the riders,
ever more powerless, have lost their old dominion over the animal
and the catastrophes that befall them are similar to those that
destroyed Sodom and Pompei. Thus I try to symbolize the last phase
of decomposition of a myth, the myth of heroic and victorious man,
of the man of virtue put forward by the humanists. My works of the
iast fourteen years do not try to be heroic, but tragic. The Miracle
in the courtyard of the Town Hall (
vs10)
is a prime example of Marini's poetic.
His artistic activity began with the First World War during a period
when artists were retrieving classical forms in reaction against
the avantguard exploration of the early years of the century. With
the outbreak of the second war (which the sculptor lived through
in neutral Switzerland), the order which had been typical of his
work began to break up; his figures were deconstructed and the forms
were done away with. Marino's fame is principally linked to his
sculpture; however, in his long career the artist also carried out
portraits (which make up one third of his total production) as well
as painting and drawing. In his graphics (
vi).
more than anywhere else, we can see all the passages of his art:
from the Fine Arts Academy experimentation to the retrieval of Cubist
elements Marino Marini's works are found in major museums throughout
the world.
(n..) refers to the number of the file-card (s.i.) means see information
inside
Marino Marini,
Gioco I, (litography)
The Marino Marini Documentation Center
The Center preserves the artist's entire print collection: from
his beginnings as a Fine Arts Academy student in Florence with La
Guerra del 1914 (The War of 1914), up to the lithographies of the
1970s such as Personages du Sacre du Printemps, carried out in conjunction
with the stage set for Igor Strawinski's work of the same title,
performed at La Scala in Milan. One can also see the first version
in silver of the composer's portrait. In the separate spaces of
the former monastery of the Tau (
vs43)
we can also see the Pomone, Acrobati (Acrobats) and Giocolieri (Jugglers).
The Center also houses a rich collection of plaster casts as well
as a library, a periodicals section and a photographic archive dedicated
to the artist. The Centro di Documentazione Marino Marini is also
home to the foundation of the same name that .counts among its goals,
the conservation and promotion of the work by this artist, one of
the most famous of the twentieth century.
