marino marini

criticism

ritratto di mies van der rohe, 1967, gesso, cm. 29,5 x 14,5 x 20,4

gianfranco contini says that marino marini was equipped with a "sculptural frame of thought" and supports his claim by quoting eminent critics such as vitali, who sees in the work of marini a desire for an absolute-plastic representation of natural existence. contini also quotes argan, who brings to light the solution of the conflict between plastic of volumes and impressionistic plastic. moreover, according to guido giuffrè, in the video "the great art:” "no one in this century turned tradition into modernity like marini did."

giuffre underlines that to marini, tradition stands not for slavish loyalty to the past but "faith in certain values: global values, of humanity, of history, a way of life, a certain consideration of life and its vicissitudes." the modernity of marini is for giuffrè 'awareness of his own time,” intended as a complete adhesion to new criteria, new values, to contemporary thought.

furthermore, georg picht in kunst und mythos (struttgard 1987), argues that "art, also in the twentieth century, lives on mythical experiences." and werner haftman stresses that the work of marini has to be viewed in this light. "it belongs to - writes haftman - the highest levels of modern art, when they found their images and their forms from basic mythical experiences.” marino marini, as noted haftman, often called himself "a descendant of the etruscans” and when “he tried to imitate their gestures to explain what he meant, then he became one with his creatures, belonging at once to this particular progeny of remote origin.”

essentially, the "definition of a resolutive mythical archetype is the real task marino marini has decided to address through his sculpture." marini's portraits earn a special mention. guido giuffrè writes about "heads, portraits that marino was able to do, were not sculptures but complete novels" and the artist himself writes that after having set down the essential formal elements "we must enter into the spirit of the character: here the challenge is to place this figure in the human space, to work out what he represents in relation to other people, other human personalities; when you’ve worked this out, you’re done. this truth has to stand out in the end result of the portrait. (...) when this task is complete, and the subject is placed in the realm of the dead that go on living, i hand over my work. "