Juxtapositions-Notes - Milwaukee Art Museum

Suzie Hanks
Marino Marini, Italian 1901 – 1980, Horse with Head Looking Up, 1956, Bronze
Marino Marini, Italian 1901 – 1980, Battle, 1952, Oil on Canvas
Etruscan (Faliscan), Oinochoe (pitcher) 325B.C., Red figure Terracotta
Greek Attic, Horse Pyxis (circular box), ca. 760 – 735 B.C., Terracotta
Marino Marini
Marini is considered one of the great artists of the 20 th century by virtue of his sculpture and is ranked
with Moore, Lipchitz, Calder and Picasso. He was born in Pistoia, Tuscany in 1901 and was very strongly
influenced by the art of the ancient Etruscans who’s culture flourished in that part if Italy from
approximately 700 -250B.C. At the beginning of his career, he rented a studio at a riding school. During
WWII, his apartment and studio in Milan were destroyed in an air raid. His work was introduced to the
U.S. in 1950 by Curt Valentin and has always been widely exhibited in Europe. He won many prizes and
honors during his life and there are now three museums in Italy: Pistoia, Milan and Florence entirely
devoted to his work. His themes are limited to four subjects, the horse and rider, Pomona and the
juggler. After WWII, his work became more abstract, reflecting the trauma he experienced during the
war and expressing his anxiety for the future of mankind. Marini’s work shows the Etruscan influence by
also having a delicate sense of humor which is often subtle and disguised. He uses bright color to
express emotion. His forms have an archaic simplicity of shape. His works have nobility; are rhythmic
and dynamic. The horse symbolizes man’s animal nature, his virile creative capacity. But the rider has
lost his connection to the horse – is reeling and will fall.
Marini speaks for himself:
“You consider one of my equestrian statues of these past twelve years. You will notice each time the
horseman is incapable of managing his mount and that the animal in its restlessness ever more riderless
comes more and more to a rigid standstill instead of rearing. I believe in the most serious way that we
are headed toward the end of the world.”
Etruscan Oinochoe 325 B.C.
Here is an example of Etruscan art - a wine pitcher reflecting man’s animal nature as seen in the horse
and man’s loss control over it. This comes from the culture that had such an enormous influence on
Marino Marini.
“I see myself as a descendant of the Etruscans … what interests me is the primitive, the elemental. The
Etruscans move me so profoundly just because their nature is absolutely original. A nature that …
contains so much of the warmth of life that it can live on its own accord developing continually down
the centuries. This is why I have always sought roots of human endeavor such as these.”
Who were the Etruscans They lived in western Italy in self-governing cities from about 700B.C. –
250B.C. All that we know of them come from their tombs, which were filled with frescoes, pottery,