traces of time
DESCRIPTION
Exhibition catalogue for "traces of Time" by Igor Mitoraj at ContiniArtUK - London (May-Sept 2014)TRANSCRIPT
the traces of time
essay
James Putnam
photographs
Giovanni ricci-Novara
mitoraJ
sostituire con logo UK
contents
3 mitoraj. the traces of time by James Putnam
9 works “en plein air”
41 the exhibition
142 appendix143 Biography144 Solo Exhibitions148 Collections and Museums
5
Tsuki-No-Ikari,1993, bronze.
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 Tsuki-No-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.
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.
7
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
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
works “en plein air”
1111
left:Tindaro, 1997, bronze.
pages 12-13:Ikaria Grande, 2001, bronze.
pages 14-15:Grande Toscano, 1981, bronze.
pages 16-19:Ikaro, 1999, bronze.
La Défense, Paris
1313
14
1717
18
2121
left:Centauro, 1994, bronze.
pages 22-23:Centurione I, 1987, bronze.
pages 24-25:Testa Addormentata, 1983, bronze.
canary Wharf, London
22
2525
2727
left and pages 28-29:Dea Roma, 2003, imperial travertine.
Dea roma, rome
28
3131
left:Ikaro, 1998, bronze.
pages 32-37:Ikaro Caduto, 2011, bronze.
pages 38-39:Ikaria, 1996, bronze.
the Valley of the temples, agrigento
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34
3737
Eclisse,1992, white marble,h 21 cm, w 33 cm, d 25 cm.
38
the exhibition
4343
Eclisse,1992, white marble,
h 21 cm, w 33 cm, d 25 cm.
44
Bacio dell’Angelo,2003, bronze,h 82 cm, w 80 cm, d 35 cm.
47
48
Torso del Centauro,1992, bronze,h 93 cm, w 127 cm, d 66 cm.
5151
52
55
Alfeo,2008, bronze,
h 65,5 cm, w 30 cm, d 28 cm.
56
5959
Grepol Ferito,2011, iron cast,
h 108 cm, w 61 cm, d 40 cm.
60
63
Coppia Reale,1998, bronze,
h 97 cm, w 162 cm, d 76 cm.
64
67
68
Ithaka,1991, bronze,h 123 cm, w 80 cm, d 55 cm.
7171
72
Eclisse Media,2001, bronze,
h 42 cm, w 66 cm, d 50 cm.
7575
Donne II,1990, bronze,
h 44 cm, w 80 cm, d 37 cm.
76
7979
Sulla Riva II,2009, bronze,
h 74 cm, w 56 cm, d 58 cm.
80
Osiride Addormentato Screpolato,2007, bronze,h 69 cm, w 59 cm, d 30,5 cm.
83
84
Porta Pietrificata,2008, bronze,h 69 cm, w 35 cm, d 36 cm.
8787
88
Dormiente,2002, bronze,h 35 cm, w 39 cm, d 33 cm.
91
92
Nudo,2002, bronze,h 183 cm, w 65 cm, d 43 cm.
9595
97
Luna Dormiente,2011, bronze,
h 63 cm, w 89,5 cm, d 55 cm.
98
Torso del Lago,2002, bronze,h 102 cm, w 57 cm, d 26 cm.
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102
Testa di San Giovanni,2013, cast iron,h 50 cm, w 86 cm, d 67 cm.
105
Città Perduta II,2005, white marble,
h 65 cm, w 71 cm, d 42 cm.
106
109
Bocca Nera,1995, bronze,
h 46 cm, w 32 cm, d 18 cm.
110
Mars,2000, bronze,h 110 cm, w 76 cm, d 77 cm.
113113
114
Memnesis,2013, bronze,h 58 cm, w 57 cm, d 62 cm.
117
Stella Solaris,1998, bronze,
h 69 cm, w 53 cm, d 31 cm.
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120
Torso d’Inverno,1992, bronze,h 98 cm, w 65 cm, p 40 cm.
123123
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Tindaro con Piede,1997, bronze,h 93 cm, w 61 cm, d 54 cm.
127
Piede con Mano,1999, bronze,
h 47 cm, w 65 cm, d 26 cm.
128
130
Eclisse,2014, mixed media on canvas,h 21 cm, w 33 cm.
133
135
Ikaro Cielo Bianco,2014, mixed media on canvas,
h 21 cm, w 33 cm.
136
139
Eclisse,2014, mixed media on canvas,
h 21 cm, w 33 cm.
140
Eclisse,2013, mixed media on canvas,h 21 cm, w 33 cm.
143
Due Blu,2014, mixed media on canvas,
h 21 cm, w 33 cm.
appendix145
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 Supérieure 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.
147
solo exhibitions
2014 Mitoraj. Angeli, Piazza dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles), Sinopie Museum, Opera Primaziale Pisana, Pisa, Italy
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
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
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
2003 International Centre of Culture, Krakow, Poland
Museum Narodowe, Poznan, Poland
Gallery Joan Gaspar, Barcelona, 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
2001 Igor Mitoraj. nouvelle mythologie, Olympic Museum, Lausanne, Switzerland
Die Galerie, Kaiserplatz, Frankfurt, 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
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
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
1993 JGM Gallery, Paris, France
Gallery Kordegarda, Warsaw, Poland
Gallery Forni, Bologna, Italy
Krakow University, Krakow, Poland
National Gallery, Poznan, Poland
149
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
1989 Sala Gaspar, Barcelona, Spain
New York Academy of Art, New York, USA
1988 Gallery Lévy, Madrid, Spain
Valente Artforum Gallery, Hamburg, Germany
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
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
1977 Gallery Artcurial, Paris, France
Gallery Maison, Berlin, Germany
Gallery Gollong, Saint Paul de Vence, France
1976 Gallery La Hune, Paris, France
Prix de la sculpture, Montrouge, France
151
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
Tutte le opere esposte provengono dalla collezione privata del Maestro Igor Mitoraj.
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