Curators at Work - College of William and Mary

Marino Marini was an Italian sculptor, painter, and graphic artist who specialized in equestrian sculptures
rendered in an expressive Cubism. Born in Pistoia, Italy, he enrolled at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence in 1917.
As a student, Marini was influenced by the art of Mediterranean antiquity, International Gothic style, and the medieval
renaissance; his work throughout the rest of his career continued to draw on these styles. 1 His favored subjects of focus
were the equestrian theme, the myth of the knight, the Pomonas, portraits, and circus characters. 2 Marini’s first major
solo exhibition showed in Milan in 1932, followed by exhibitions at the Venice Biennale, the Milan Triennale, and the Rome
Quadriennale. 3 During the 1950s and 1960s, a series of his exhibitions opened throughout Europe and in New York City,
bringing him international acclaim, as well as several prestigious prizes. The Museo Marino Marini opened in Florence
in 1973, and today contains a permanent collection of 182 works that includes sculptures, paintings, drawings, and
engravings. 4 Marini died in Viareggio, Italy, in 1980.
Marini’s 1953 Horse and Rider is ink and gouache on paper. The painting is composed of an underlying green layer
covered by a rapidly brushed field of blue, laid over by a warm ochre field whose shape evokes an ancient tablet. Before
the blue paint dried Marini went over it in ochre, creating a layered look between colors that calls to mind a palimpsest of
antiquity. He initially formed the main body of ochre using short, horizontal brushstrokes before adding longer, sweeping
strokes around the edges. The figures of a horse with a mounted rider are centered, drawn in fine lines of black pen.
Marini’s original signature is scratched into the paint between the horse’s forelegs, but was later redone in more visible
ink in the lower right corner. A swath of yellow was added to the bottom of the main field to make space for the signature,
with the date signed above his name; this singular wide stroke is spontaneous in its positioning and application.
The horse and rider were initially outlined in pen, but Marini returned with a brush to add shadows to the figures
for relief in a manner that is telling of his background and training as a sculptor. The horse has only three legs, with one
rear leg missing, but still strikes as a strong figure. In contrast, the man, whose body is boxy and unrefined, sits clutching
one arm in a suggestion of weakness or injury, possibly connected to sexual potency. His face, though drawn in crude
lines, shows an unsmiling expression. The rider’s leg shares a line with the horse’s left foreleg, combining the figures and
signifying a close association between the two.
Another Marini painting, Cavallo e Cavaliere from 1952, is done in gouache and India ink on paper, employing a
similar arrangement of a horse and rider in profile, again showing only three legs of the horse. The two figures are set on a
field of beige with an underlying muted brown that shows around the edges of the figures. As in his 1953 Horse and Rider,
the body of the rider is more geometric than the organic shape of his mount, but the man is faceless and his expression
indecipherable, whereas the horse’s face is detailed.
Both paintings belong to a group of Marini’s works in the early 1950s executed in gouache and lithograph that
are reminiscent of ancient drawings rubbed by time. The “horse and rider” is a characteristic archetype of Marini, and his
style in the early 1950s comes away from strongly cubist pieces—the horses are more attenuated, with almost stick-like
legs. Marini’s work of this time period often depicts a chaotic world, in which man has little control over his steed, which
grows wilder and more stubborn in each rendition. Marini’s style uses vivid, contrasting colors, and graphical elements
like lines and dashes of color to convey Marini’s feelings about the future, which he expressed as the belief that “we are
approaching the end of the world.” 5
1Marino Marini Biography, Art Directory, http://www.marini-marino.
com/.
2Museo Marino Marini – Foundation – Permanent collection, Marino
Marini Museum, http://www.museomarinomarini.it/section.
php?page=fondazione&sezione=10.
Simone Peer ‘12
3 Marino Marini Biography.
4 Museo Marino Marini – Foundation – Permanent collection.
5 Marino Marini (1901-1980) | Piccolo cavaliere, Christie’s, http://www.
christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?from=salesummary&intObje
ctID=5313318.
16 Memoranda for 16 Artists | 21