Digital Editions
Newsletters
Subscribe
Digital Editions
Newsletters
Art market
Museums & heritage
Exhibitions
Books
Podcasts
Columns
Technology
Adventures with Van Gogh
Art market
Museums & heritage
Exhibitions
Books
Podcasts
Columns
Technology
Adventures with Van Gogh
Exhibitions
preview

Marino Marini rises to the occasion at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection

New exhibition in Venice puts challenging work that risked offending “stuffy visitors” in context

Hannah McGivern
29 January 2018
Share
Marino Marini’s The Angel of the City (1948) raised eyebrows in Venice Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Marino Marini, by SIAE 2017

Marino Marini’s The Angel of the City (1948) raised eyebrows in Venice Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Marino Marini, by SIAE 2017

Marino Marini’s bronze sculpture of a horse and rider, The Angel of the City (1948), on the terrace of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, is hard to miss. When the US collector moved into Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, she installed the work at the waterside entrance, in full view of the traffic on the Grand Canal. The erect phallus of the figure risked offending passing nuns or “stuffy visitors”, she wrote in her memoirs, so she would occasionally remove it. Guggenheim’s adviser, the British art critic Herbert Read, called the statue a challenge to the Prefecture of Venice on the opposite bank.

As challenging as his art was, Marini (1901-80) drew deeply on tradition. An exhibition of work by the Italian artist at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection illustrates the relationship between more than 70 of his figurative sculptures and the ancient Egyptian, archaic Greek, Etruscan, Medieval, Renaissance and 19th-century styles he drew on.

“In the exhibitions and literature on Marini to date, we are still lacking a serious attempt to put his sculptural research into historical and stylistic context,” says Maria Teresa Tosi, the director of the Fondazione Marino Marini. The foundation is in Pistoia, the artist’s hometown in Tuscany, where the exhibition now coming to the Guggenheim was previously held.

The show is sponsored by the coffee brand Lavazza.

• Marino Marini: Visual Passions, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, 27 January- 1 May 2018

ExhibitionsSculptureVenice Marino MariniPeggy Guggenheim Collection
Share
Subscribe to The Art Newspaper’s digital newsletter for your daily digest of essential news, views and analysis from the international art world delivered directly to your inbox.
Newsletter sign-up
Information
About
Contact
Cookie policy
Data protection
Privacy policy
Frequently Asked Questions
Subscription T&Cs
Terms and conditions
Advertise
Sister Papers
Sponsorship policy
Follow us
Instagram
Bluesky
LinkedIn
Facebook
TikTok
YouTube
© The Art Newspaper

Related content

Exhibitionspreview
30 November 2021

First major Donatello exhibition in nearly 40 years to open in Florence

The Renaissance master is "more important than Giotto, Raphael or Caravaggio" say the curators of the show, which will travel to Berlin and London

Cristina Ruiz
Exhibitionspreview
28 February 2025

Esteemed private collection of Roman marbles is starting its North American tour

Nearly 60 works from the Torlonia Collection, including striking depictions of animals and people, will feature in exhibitions in Chicago, Fort Worth and Montreal

Gareth Harris
Exhibitionspreview
22 March 2024

How Constantin Brâncuși shaped the course of sculpture in the 20th century

The Centre Pompidou in Paris is staging a huge exhibition of the Romanian artist’s work with a “lively and joyful” thematic hang

Hannah McGivern