mitoraj the traces of time
essay
James Putnam photographs
Giovanni Ricci-Novara
sostituire con logo UK
contents 3 Mitoraj. The Traces of Time
by James Putnam
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works “en plein air”
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the exhibition
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appendix
143 144 148
Biography Solo Exhibitions Collections and Museums
Time present and time past Are both perhaps present in time future, And time future contained in time past. T.S. Eliot, Burnt Norton (1935)
This current exhibition entitled The Traces of Time comprises a definitive selection of Igor Mitoraj sculptures in bronze, marble and cast iron. At first glance the sculptures might appear to evoke antiquity like archeological artifacts but they are more about the very nature of time that simultaneously embraces past, present and future. When I first saw his bronze colossus TsukiNo-Hikari (Moonlight) at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in 1993, I felt that it possessed a unique timeless quality and the following year I invited him to install it in front of the British Museum. This was part of the Time Machine exhibition, which featured contemporary art juxtaposed with ancient Egyptian sculpture and for a subsequent version of the exhibition in Turin he installed another striking colossal head, Per Adriano at the entrance of Museo Egizio. The heroic head enlarged to various dimensions is a recurrent motif in Mitoraj’s work and there are also versions that are bound and blindfolded that play with scale as partial yet complete sculptures. As displaced fragments they can appear unsettling and surreal with a disconcertingly dramatic visual effect. They possess a strong sense of the theatrical, which probably has its roots in Mitoraj’s early training in the Krakow Academy under the playwright and artist Tadeusz Kantor who was noted for his experimental theatre.
Tsuki-No-Ikari, 1993, bronze.
As part of his working process Mitoraj first makes a clay maquette for a complete sculpture, which he then skilfully crops to become or rather appear to be a fragment. He therefore manages to achieve maximum monumentality by alluding to the sculpture’s former completeness. In other words the sculpture seems more imposing because we imagine it to be just a fragment of a larger whole. His sculptures therefore achieve a sense of monumentality in any scale from the minute to the massive.There is a tendency to misunderstand Mitoraj as a revivalist whose work resembles ancient Greek or Neoclassical sculpture. But his art is not concerned with imitation it is simply an attempt to shape into familiar forms what he refers to as “the drama of life.” Many of Mitoraj’s sculptures consist of these bodily or corporeal fragments – decapitated heads, headless torsos with missing limbs, distressed surfaces etc.
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But they do not represent nostalgia for the golden age of antiquity or the poetry of ruin, instead his use of the fragment can be perceived as relating to the paradox of the human condition, a quest for perfection that caries with it the inevitability of imperfection – a desire for permanence in the face of inevitable change. This is perhaps the true significance of Mitoraj’s work where the fragmented sculpture with its ancient looking surface patina serves as conceptual metaphor for the fragility and impermanence of our earthly existence. The corporeal fragment therefore suggests the futility of man’s immortal aspirations and when we appreciate the picturesque beauty of ruins, we are unwittingly contemplating our own future demise. The most awe-inspiring sculptures in antiquity by the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans were created using permanent and vital laws. They captured the illusive secret of form and light and transparent shadow. They speak a universal and timeless language of sculpture whether it is archaic, primitive, classical, romantic, or abstract modern. The ancient sculptors believed they had discovered certain fixed ratios in both nature and art, the so-called Golden Section, which is fundamental to the classical tradition. Mitoraj’s sculptures possess this same sense of ideal or even ‘divine’ proportion and harmony and he understands the formal vocabulary used by the celebrated Greek sculptors of the fifth and fourth centuries BC whose work has been mainly lost except in Roman and later copies. They were able to integrate line and form in the visual treatment of edges and planes, with a sophistication which has seldom been equalled in the entire history of art. However inappropriate it might seem nowadays, the Greeks believed that beauty is a moral goodness, a really simple truth. Mitoraj perceives beauty as “… something that makes me dream but in the mean time it is much stronger that an ephemeral dream. It is an ideal, an enigma, and a mirage”. But he is not preoccupied with aesthetic value during the creation of his sculptures and understands that beauty has an inherent duality that he describes as “… mesmerizing perfection attached to corrupted imperfection.” Mitoraj draws inspiration from the gods and heroes of antiquity that he equates with the eternal and mysterious. This is most apparent in the shrouded head, a recurrent theme in his oeuvre particularly the bronze bandaged head entitled ‘Eclisse’ (Eclipse) and there is an earlier version in white marble. This work is not merely a display of technical virtuosity but
represents an enigma of sculptural form where the bandages are interwoven with the contours of the face and suggests that if it were unwrapped there would be nothing left inside just like the ‘Invisible Man’. Mitoraj’s intention is to emphasize the element of mystery where non-existence becomes a source of inspiration and possibility. It is important that sculpture reveals the inherent life of its medium, which is animated through the encounter between form and material where the quality of the medium is synonymous with the power of the work Mitoraj thinks in terms of the poetics of the material with a fondness for line, creating a dialogue between the solid and the void revealing the undulating shadows and play of light and dark and the influence of colour and light in the realization of form. He models and adjusts the work on the basis of what the material itself is telling him. Working in clay frees him from the need to have a fixed vision of the final bronze sculpture. Bronze is a material of much nobility and tradition that was first used by Cretans for implements as early as 3500 BC. And then by the Egyptians for statuettes of deities using the lost-wax process. Working with the artigiani in Pietrasanta who excel in decorative and technical skill, Mitoraj’s work can be viewed as the part of a great Italian bronze casting heritage that began with the Etruscans and Romans and reached its zenith during the Italian Renaissance. He uses a variety of attractive patinas in various colours on his bronzes that resemble the oxidization of the surface of ancient sculptures buried in the ground for centuries. But Mitoraj doesn’t patinate his sculptures to make them look like relics or antiquities. As he puts it “The patina helps to restate and reinforce those emotions, ideas, and dreams that I want to portray through my art. The patina on my sculptures can equally represent the past, the present or the future”. Mitoraj’s sculptures posses a unique formalism and vitality, as if their enigmatic expression is suspended in a serene and meditative state that constitutes the enduring qualities in art, regardless of dates or tradition. It is as if his work is suspended between past and present where the traces of time are both evoked and alluded to.
James Putnam, Independent Curator and Senior Research Fellow, University of the Arts, London
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works “en plein air”
La DĂŠfense, Paris
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left: Tindaro, 1997, bronze. pages 12-13: Ikaria Grande, 2001, bronze. pages 14-15: Grande Toscano, 1981, bronze. pages 16-19: Ikaro, 1999, bronze.
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Canary Wharf, London
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left: Centauro, 1994, bronze. pages 22-23: Centurione I, 1987, bronze. pages 24-25: Testa Addormentata, 1983, bronze.
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Dea Roma, Rome
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left and pages 28-29: Dea Roma, 2003, imperial travertine.
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The Valley of the Temples, Agrigento
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left: Ikaro, 1998, bronze. pages 32-37: Ikaro Caduto, 2011, bronze. pages 38-39: Ikaria, 1996, bronze.
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Eclisse, 1992, white marble, h 21 cm, w 33 cm, d 25 cm.
the exhibition
Eclisse, 1992, white marble, h 21 cm, w 33 cm, d 25 cm.
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Bacio dell’Angelo, 2003, bronze, h 82 cm, w 80 cm, d 35 cm.
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Torso del Centauro, 1992, bronze, h 93 cm, w 127 cm, d 66 cm.
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Alfeo, 2008, bronze, h 65,5 cm, w 30 cm, d 28 cm.
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Grepol Ferito, 2011, iron cast, h 108 cm, w 61 cm, d 40 cm.
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Coppia Reale, 1998, bronze, h 97 cm, w 162 cm, d 76 cm.
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Ithaka, 1991, bronze, h 123 cm, w 80 cm, d 55 cm.
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Eclisse Media, 2001, bronze, h 42 cm, w 66 cm, d 50 cm.
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Donne II, 1990, bronze, h 44 cm, w 80 cm, d 37 cm.
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Sulla Riva II, 2009, bronze, h 74 cm, w 56 cm, d 58 cm.
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Osiride Addormentato Screpolato, 2007, bronze, h 69 cm, w 59 cm, d 30,5 cm.
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Porta Pietrificata, 2008, bronze, h 69 cm, w 35 cm, d 36 cm.
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Dormiente, 2002, bronze, h 35 cm, w 39 cm, d 33 cm.
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Nudo, 2002, bronze, h 183 cm, w 65 cm, d 43 cm.
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Luna Dormiente, 2011, bronze, h 63 cm, w 89,5 cm, d 55 cm.
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Torso del Lago, 2002, bronze, h 102 cm, w 57 cm, d 26 cm.
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Testa di San Giovanni, 2013, cast iron, h 50 cm, w 86 cm, d 67 cm.
CittĂ Perduta II, 2005, white marble, h 65 cm, w 71 cm, d 42 cm.
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Bocca Nera, 1995, bronze, h 46 cm, w 32 cm, d 18 cm.
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Mars, 2000, bronze, h 110 cm, w 76 cm, d 77 cm.
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Memnesis, 2013, bronze, h 58 cm, w 57 cm, d 62 cm.
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Stella Solaris, 1998, bronze, h 69 cm, w 53 cm, d 31 cm.
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Torso d’Inverno, 1992, bronze, h 98 cm, w 65 cm, p 40 cm.
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Tindaro con Piede, 1997, bronze, h 93 cm, w 61 cm, d 54 cm.
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Piede con Mano, 1999, bronze, h 47 cm, w 65 cm, d 26 cm.
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Eclisse, 2014, mixed media on canvas, h 21 cm, w 33 cm.
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Ikaro Cielo Bianco, 2014, mixed media on canvas, h 21 cm, w 33 cm.
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Eclisse, 2014, mixed media on canvas, h 21 cm, w 33 cm.
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Eclisse, 2013, mixed media on canvas, h 21 cm, w 33 cm.
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Due Blu, 2014, mixed media on canvas, h 21 cm, w 33 cm.
Biography 1944 Born: Oderan, Germany, the son of a Polish mother and a French father. 1963 Mitoraj began studying painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. In the last three years of his studies, he became the pupil of Tadeusz Kantor (1914-1990). 1968 Moved to Paris to continue his studies at the École Nationale SupÊrieure des Beaux-Arts. 1983 He made Italy his home and opened a studio in Pietrasanta, though he continued to maintain his Paris atelier. 1986 Mitoraj accepted an invitation to the 42nd Venice Art Biennale.
appendix 145
Solo Exhibitions 2014 Mitoraj. Angeli, Piazza dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles), Sinopie Museum, Opera Primaziale Pisana, Pisa, Italy
2001 Igor Mitoraj. nouvelle mythologie, Olympic Museum, Lausanne, Switzerland Die Galerie, Kaiserplatz, Frankfurt, Germany
2013 Scenography for the Messa da Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi, Arena di Verona, Italy Mitoraj. Sculture, Museum of Castelvecchio, Verona, Italy Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Berlin, Germany
2000 JGM Gallery, Paris, France Mitoraj. Miti incrociati, Galleria Contini, Venice, Italy Mumm Akademia, Villa Hajo Rüter Parc, Eltville, Germany Kunstverein, Villa Concordia, Bamberg, Germany Recent Bronzes, Miriam Schiell Gallery, Toronto, Canada Mitoraj: nostalgia del mito, City of San Marino, Republic of San Marino
2012 Scenography and Costumes for the Opera Aida, Doha, Qatar Igor Mitoraj. Skulpturen, University of Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany Chapel of Villa Rufolo, Auditorium Niemeyer, Ravello, Italy 2011 Mitoraj at the Valley of the Temples, Archaeological Museum of Sicily, Agrigento, Italy 2010 Mitoraj. Un Sculpteur à la Défense, La Défense, Paris, France Mitoraj Monumental, Aix en Provence, France Scenography and Costumes for the Opera Aida, Boboli gardens, Florence, Italy Mitoraj Monumental, Abbaye de Silvacane, France 2009 Main doors designed and installed for the “Maria Boska Laskawa Church”, Warsaw, Poland 2008 BiancoNero, Galleria Contini, Venice, Italy 2007 Arte en la calle: Igor Mitoraj. El mito perdido, Rambla de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain Arte en la calle: Igor Mitoraj. El mito perdido, Gran Via Marques del Turia, Valencia, Spain Igor Mitoraj. Angeli, miti ed eroi, Loggiato San Bartolomeo, Palermo, Italy Arte en la calle: Igor Mitoraj. El mito perdido, Madrid, Spain Arte en la calle: Igor Mitoraj. El mito perdido, Vigo, Spain Arte en la calle: Igor Mitoraj. El mito perdido, La Coruña, Spain 2006 Arte en la calle: Igor Mitoraj. El mito perdido, Casco Antiquo, Granada, Spain Arte en la calle: Igor Mitoraj. El mito perdido, Dalt Murada, Palma de Mallorca, Spain Scenography and Costumes for the Opera Tosca, Torre del Lago Puccini, Italy Main doors designed and installed for the “Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli”, Rome, Italy
1999 Igor Mitoraj. Dei ed Eroi, Archaeological Museum, Boboli Gardens, Palazzo Pitti, Florence, Italy Galeria Joan Gaspar, Barcelona, Spain Uffizi Museum, Florence, Italy Zoumboulakis Galleries, Athens, Greece 1998 Die Galerie, Operenplaz, Frankfurt, Germany Galleria Contini, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy 1997 KPMG, La Défense, Paris, France Museo Beelden Aan Zee, Scheveningen, The Netherlands Via Senato Library, Milan, Italy Polish Institute of Culture, Rome, Italy Galleria Contini, Forte dei Marmi, Italy S. Agostino Church and Duomo square, Pietrasanta, Italy 1996 Academy Gallery, Bath, United Kingdom Publitalia Foundation, Siracusa, Italy Marisa Del Re Gallery, Palm Beach, USA 1995
Museum Casa del Cordon, Burgos, Spain Gallery Carini, Prato, Italy Marisa Del Re Gallery, New York, USA Park Riu Sook Gallery, Seoul, South Korea Galleria Medusa, Chiostro San Francesco, Cesena, Italy
2003 International Centre of Culture, Krakow, Poland Museum Narodowe, Poznan, Poland Gallery Joan Gaspar, Barcelona, Spain
1994
Gallery Joan Gaspar, Barcelona, Spain National Gallery, Wroclaw, Poland National Gallery, Lodz, Poland Gallery Lévy, Madrid, Spain Sala Imagen, Seville, Spain Museum of Navaja, Pamplona, Spain Caja Vital Kotuxa Foundation, Vittoria, Spain
2002 Mitoraj. Sculture, Institute Matildenhöhe, Darmstadt, Germany Scenography and Costumes for the Opera Manon Lescaut, Torre del Lago Puccini, Italy Museum of Modern Art, Lugano, Switzerland Tega Gallery, Milan, Italy JGM Gallery, Paris, France
1993 JGM Gallery, Paris, France Gallery Kordegarda, Warsaw, Poland Gallery Forni, Bologna, Italy Krakow University, Krakow, Poland National Gallery, Poznan, Poland
2005 Igor Mitoraj. Sculture, International Gallery of Modern Art, Ca’ Pesaro, Venice, Italy 2004
Sculptures. Cité perdue, JGM Gallery, Paris, France Sculptures monumentales, Jardin des Tuileries, Paris, France Mitoraj ai mercati di Traiano, Trajan’s Market, Rome, Italy Royal Palace, Warsaw, Poland Gallery Joan Gaspar, Madrid, Spain
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1992 The Economist Plaza, London, United Kingdom BSG Fine Art Gallery, London, United Kingdom Italian Academy, London, United Kingdom Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, United Kingdom JGM Gallery, Arco, Madrid, Spain 1991 JGM Gallery, Paris, France Sforzesco Castle, Milan, Italy Thomas Tivelli Gallery, Aspen, USA The M&I Rayburn Foundation, New York, USA 1990 Gerald Peters Gallery, Dallas, USA Stembock-Fermor Gallery, Stockholm Art Fair, Sweden
1980 Veranneman Foundation, Kruishoutem, Belgium Gallery Lévy, Hamburg, Germany Gallery Mathilde, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Gallery G. Bach, Genève, Switzerland 1979 Gallery Cupillard, Grenoble, France Gallery Bornan, Marseille, France Studio 40, The Hague, the Netherlands 1978 Gallery Artcurial, Paris, France Gallery Dovat, Zurich, Switzerland Gallery Gübelin, Lugano, Switzerland
1989 Sala Gaspar, Barcelona, Spain New York Academy of Art, New York, USA
1977 Gallery Artcurial, Paris, France Gallery Maison, Berlin, Germany Gallery Gollong, Saint Paul de Vence, France
1988 Gallery Lévy, Madrid, Spain Valente Artforum Gallery, Hamburg, Germany
1976 Gallery La Hune, Paris, France Prix de la sculpture, Montrouge, France
1987 Gallery Due Ci, Rome, Italy Strozzi Palace, Florence, Italy Italsider Centre, Taranto, Italy Gallery Stenbock-Fermor, Gent, Belgium 1986 Gallery La Hune, Paris, France Gallery Pierre Huber, Genève, Switzerland Emperor Castle, Prato, Italy Gallery Stemmle-Adler, Heidelberg, Germany 1985 Castel Sant’Angelo Museum, Rome, Italy Compagnia del Disegno, Milan, Italy Gallery Tavolozza, Palermo, Italy Maison de la Culture, Metz, France 1984 Gallery l’Orangerie, Cologne, Germany Gallery Lévy, Hamburg, Germany Gallery Lévy, Paris, France Gallery Toninelli, Rome, Italy 1983 Gallery Lévy, Paris, France Gallery Artcurial, Fribourg, Switzerland Gallery Cuppillard, Saint Tropez, France 1982 Le Rocabella, Monte Carlo, Monaco Gallery Levy, Art Cologne, Cologne, Germany 1981 Gallery Artcurial, Paris, France Gallery Lévy, Paris, France Gallery Levy, Art Cologne, Cologne, Germany
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Collections and Museums France
Angers, City of Angers Laval, Ministère des Finances, Trésorerie générale de la Mayenne Paris, La Défense Paris, Banque Paribas Paris, Ministère de la Défense nationale, Place d’Armes du Fort Neuf de Vincennes
Germany Bamberg, City of Bamberg Berlin, Sammlung Würth Museum Kunzelsau, Museum Würth Greece
Andros, Museum of Modern Art, B. & E. Goulandris Foundation
Italy
Agrigento, Valley of The Temples Bergamo, Papa Giovanni XXIII square Florence, Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze Florence, Boboli Gardens Florence, Uffizi Museum Ivrea, Olivetti S.p.A. City of Massa Marittima Milan, Agusta S.p.A. Milan, Assicurazioni Tirrenia Milan, la Barona Milan, Piazza del Carmine Milan, Rusconi Editore Milan, Scala Theatre Milan, Trussardi S.p.A Palermo, Chiostro San Bartolomeo Pietrasanta, Centauro Square Pietrasanta, City Hall Palace Pietrasanta, Sant’Agostino Church Piombino, Ministry of Defence Rome, Basilica Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri Rome, Monte Grappa square Rome, Fintermica Iacorossi Rome, Cassa di Risparmio di Roma Rome, Memmo Foundation Rome, Valentino S.p.A. City of Siena City of Tivoli Torre del Lago Puccini, Puccini Theatre Turin, Seat Verona, The Arena Museum
Japan
Hakone, Hakone Museum Hokkaido, Abuta Sculpture Park Tokyo, The Tokyo Sogo Bank Utsunomiya, Oya Museum
Poland
Krakow, National Opera Krakow, Academy of Fine Arts Krakow, Narodowe Museum Krakow, Jagiellonski University Museum Lodz, Contemporary Art Museum Warsaw, Olympic Centre Warsaw, Basilica Matka Bolska Laskawa Warsaw, Polpharma Warsaw, Narodowe Museum
Principality of Monaco District of Fontvieille Spain
Majorca, March Foundation Tenerife, City of Santa Cruz
Switzerland
Lausanne, Musée Olympique City of Lugano
The Nederlands
Philips S.p.A. Museum Belden Aan Zee, Scheveningen
United Kingdom
London, Canada Square, Canary Wharf London, The British Museum Wakefield, Yorkshire Sculpture Park
USA
Atlanta, Coca-Cola Foundation Chicago, Hilton International Company Grand Rapids, Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park Los Angeles, County Museum of Art New York, The M. & I. Rayburn Foundation San Francisco, Rosenkranz Foundation St. Louis, Gateway Foundation Washington D. C., Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Vatican City
Vatican Museums
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Contini Art Gallery modern and contemporary art address XXXX London Ph : +XX X XX XX XX XX E-mail : xxx@continiartuk.com Website : www.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.com
Tutte le opere esposte provengono dalla collezione privata del Maestro Igor Mitoraj.
Acknowledgements
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