Traces of Time

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

2121

left:Centauro, 1994, bronze.

pages 22-23:Centurione I, 1987, bronze.

pages 24-25:Testa Addormentata, 1983, bronze.

canary Wharf, London

2727

left and pages 28-29:Dea Roma, 2003, imperial travertine.

Dea roma, rome

3131

left:Ikaro, 1998, bronze.

pages 32-37:Ikaro Caduto, 2011, bronze.

pages 38-39:Ikaria, 1996, bronze.

the Valley of the temples, agrigento

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.

48

Torso del Centauro,1992, bronze,h 93 cm, w 127 cm, d 66 cm.

55

Alfeo,2008, bronze,

h 65,5 cm, w 30 cm, d 28 cm.

5959

Grepol Ferito,2011, iron cast,

h 108 cm, w 61 cm, d 40 cm.

63

Coppia Reale,1998, bronze,

h 97 cm, w 162 cm, d 76 cm.

68

Ithaka,1991, bronze,h 123 cm, w 80 cm, d 55 cm.

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.

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.

84

Porta Pietrificata,2008, bronze,h 69 cm, w 35 cm, d 36 cm.

88

Dormiente,2002, bronze,h 35 cm, w 39 cm, d 33 cm.

92

Nudo,2002, bronze,h 183 cm, w 65 cm, d 43 cm.

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.

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.

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.

120

Torso d’Inverno,1992, bronze,h 98 cm, w 65 cm, p 40 cm.

123123

124

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.

130

Eclisse,2014, mixed media on canvas,h 21 cm, w 33 cm.

135

Ikaro Cielo Bianco,2014, mixed media on canvas,

h 21 cm, w 33 cm.

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


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


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


Gallery Dovat, Zurich, Switzerland

Gallery Gübelin, Lugano, Switzerland


Gallery Maison, Berlin, Germany

Gallery Gollong, Saint Paul de Vence, France

1976 Gallery La Hune, Paris, France

Prix de la sculpture, Montrouge, France

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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

Tutte le opere esposte provengono dalla collezione privata del Maestro Igor Mitoraj.

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