Marino Marini
Biography
Horse and rider are Marino Marini's main theme. For Marini, the connection between horse and human is an expression of the mythical in contrast to everyday reality. Beauty and ruin, bravery and defeat, victory and self-assertion collide. After the painful experiences of the war, this constellation becomes the model for his world view, which turns tragic: the worried, rearing horses with their falling riders are Marini's symbol for the precarious existence of man, the rider spreading his arms is the ruler on uncertain ground. In sculpture, the figurative becomes an abstraction of violent, but jagged, inharmonious movements full of destructive energy, legs pointing upwards, which, a paradox that is often encountered, nevertheless generates an important art form. In the tempera work from 1949, the horse is depicted statically, the falling rider combines all energies in and on himself, as a figure on the back he implies even more power and impact, which is reinforced by the leg rising at an angle: fate becomes form.
The work from 1955, on the other hand, shows the inner and outer relationship between horse and rider, a relationship whose emotionality becomes manifest in the multi-layered, dramatically agitated painterly treatment of the pictorial surroundings. Marino Marini, Guerriero The warrior is also a universal image in art history, and a projection surface for beliefs, virtues, and ideologies. Here the horse has buckled, it turns its head back towards the warrior rider, who lies frozen over its body. In the angular, cubic shapes, both bodies merge into an emotional unity. Marini's riders represent man's embeddedness in nature, which he can only partially control, if at all. Marini thinks of the indissoluble, the whole of creation, and that every end is also a new beginning.
Exhibitions
Museum and single exhibitions (selection)
2024
Art and Fascism, Museo d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Rovereto, Italy
Frisbee! Sports and Leisure. Würth Collection, Musée Würth France, Erstein, France
2023
Uffizi’s self-portraits, Uffizi, Florence, Italy
1,5 Grad, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany
2022
La Collezione Brandi Rubiu, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna (GNAM), Rome, Italy
2021
Wild/Schön. Tiere in der Kunst, Kunsthalle in Emden, Emden, Germany
2020
Momat Collection, National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo (MOMAT), Tokyo, Japan
2019
Geheimnisvolle Musen, Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
2018
Marino Marini: Visual Passions, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy
2015
Marino Marini: do arcaísmo ao fim da forma. - Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo
Marino Marini: Do Arcaísmo Ao Fim Da Forma - Fundação Iberê Camargo, Porto Alegre
2013
Marino Marini's From Color To Form - UAMA - The University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
Marino Marini: l'arcaico - Museo Civico Archeologico di Bologna, Bologna
2010
Marino Marini - Museumsverein Bruneck, Bruneck, BZ
2007
Marini Marino - Sun Gallery / Sun Art Center, Seoul
Marino Marini - National Museum Of Contemporary Art Korea, Deoksugung, Seoul
2006
Marino Marini: Il segno e la forma - Museo d`Arte dello Splendore, Giulianova, TE
Marino Marini - An archaic sculptor of modern art - National Art Gallery - Alexandros Soutzos Museum, Athen
2001
marino marini (1901-1980) opere su carta - Museo Marino Marini, Florenz
2000
Marino Marini - Pferd und Reiter - Graphische Arbeiten - Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg
Marino Marini - Centro per l'Arte Contemporanea Palazzo Rocca, Chiavari, GE
1995
Marino Marini - Esculturas E Desenhos - MNAC - Museu do Chiado, Lissabon
Marino Marini - KunstHaus Wien, Wien
1993
Marino Marini: peintures - Musée des beaux-arts de Chartres, Chartres
1986
Marino Marini - University Art Museum, Santa Barbara, CA
1978
Marino Marini - National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo (MOMAT), Tokyo
1976
Marino Marini, Druckgraphik - Haus der Kunst München, München
1965
Marino Marini - graphics and related works - Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
1962
Marino Marini - Kunsthaus Zürich, Zürich
1955
Marino Marini - Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam
1953
Marino Marini - CAC - Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH
Marino Marini - Statens museum for kunst, Kopenhagen
1952
Marino Marini - Kunstverein in Hamburg, Hamburg