Marisa Merz

Marisa Merz (born May 23, 1926 in Turin ; † July 20, 2019 ) was an Italian sculptor and installation artist .

life and work

“Untitled” by Marisa Merz, Tate Modern , photo: Marie-Lan Nguyen

Marisa Merz was born in Italy in 1926. In 1960 she married Mario Merz (1925–2003), one of the main representatives of Arte Povera . She had a daughter with him and lived in Turin.

As an autodidact and member of the art movement Arte Povera (Italian: "poor art") she made objects from fragments of bodies or objects and often used soft materials such as wax, clay, aluminum , tinfoil , copper and industrial hemp . She also drew with mixed techniques on hard fiberboard , canvas , wood and paper.

Exhibitions (selection)

Solo exhibitions (selection)

• 1975 Marisa Merz - Galleria L'Attico, Rome
• 1994 Marisa Merz - Center Pompidou Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris
• 1995 Marisa Merz - Kunstmuseum Winterthur , Winterthur
• 2002 Marisa Merz - Marian Goodman Gallery, Paris
• 2007 Marisa Merz - Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Donna Regina MADRE
• 2010 Marisa Merz - Center international d'art et du paysage de l'île de Vassivière, Ile de Vassivière
• 2011 Marisa Merz - Non corrisponde eppur fiorisce - Fondazione Querini Stampalia ONLUS, Venice
• 2012 Marisa Merz - Monica De Cardenas - Zuoz, Zuoz
• 2013 Gladstone Gallery, New York, 24th Street, New York City, New York
• 2017 (at the age of 90) Met Breuer Museum New York, with catalog

Group exhibitions (selection)

• 1973 X Quadriennale Nazionale d'Arte . La ricerca estetica dal 1960 al 1970 - Quadriennale di Roma, Rome
• 1982 documenta 7 , Kassel
• 1984 Overture II Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Turin
• 1994 The Italian Metamorphosis 1943–1968 , exhibition catalog, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum , 1994, New York
• 1986 Chambres d'amis SMAK Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst , Ghent
• 1986 SculptureSein Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Dusseldorf
• 1988 43rd Venice Biennale, Venice
• 1989 Sculpture da Camera. Chamber Sculpture s - NBK - Neuer Berliner Kunstverein , Berlin
• 1989 Illuminated Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Hamburg
• 1991 Visionaries Switzerland Kunsthaus Zürich , Zurich
• 1992 Visionaries Switzerland Museo Reina Sofía , Madrid
• 1992 documenta IX , Kassel
• 1992 Visionaries Switzerland Kunsthalle Düsseldorf , Dusseldorf
• 1996 Op Losse Schroeven - Situaties en Cryptostructuren Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Amsterdam
• 1998 100 Years of Sculpture: From the Pedestal to the Pixel Walker Art Center , Minneapolis, MN
• 2000 La Ville, le Jardin, la Mémoire Académie de France à Rome , Rome
• 2001 Zero to Infinity : Arte Povera 1962–1972 Tate Gallery of Modern Art , London
• 2001 49th Venice Biennale, Venice
• 2002 Zero To Infinity : Arte Povera 1962–1972 Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles , Los Angeles
• 2002 Zero To Infinity : Arte Povera 1962–1972 Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden , Washington
• 2003 Europe Exists - Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art , Thessaloniki
• 2004 Mario Merz & Marisa Merz Galerie Marian Goodman, Paris
• 2005 An Aside Selected by Tacita Dean Camden Arts Center , London (England)
• 2005 An Aside Selected by Tacita Dean Fruitmarket Gallery , Edinburgh (Scotland)
• 2006 Internazionale XII Biennale di Scultura di Carrara, Biennale di Sculture di Carrara, Carrara
• 2007 Makers and Modelers: Works in Ceramic, Gladstone Gallery - New York - 24th Street, New York City, NY
• 2008 Time & Place Milano – Torino 1958–1968 - Moderna Museet , Stockholm
• 2008 Life on Mars , the 55th Carnegie International Carnegie Museum of Art , Pittsburgh , PA
• 2008 16th Biennale of Sydney Biennale of Sydney , Sydney, NSW
• 2009 Compass in Hand : Selections from The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection - MoMA Museum of Modern Art , New York City, NY
• 2009 Summit of Modern Art The Kunstmuseum Winterthur - Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany , Bonn
• 2010 Ergo, materia. Arte povera Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo , Mexico City
• 2011 Arte povera 1968 MAMbo Galleria d'Arte Moderna di Bologna , Bologna
• 2012 Spirits Of Internationalism MuHKA Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerp , Antwerp
• 2012 Dormitorio Pubblico : Sutton Lane - Brussels, Brussels
• 2012 Arte Povera Neues Museum Weimar , Weimar
• 2013 55th Venice Biennale , Venice
• 2019 Entrare nell opera , processes and actions in the Arte Povera; Liechtenstein Art Museum , Vaduz

Awards (selection)

• 2001: Biennale di Venezia : Special jury prize for life's work
• 2013: Leone d'Oro alla Carriera of the Biennale di Venezia for her life's work

Literature / press

• Marisa Merz: Texts by Mario Merz, Dieter Schwarz and Tommaso Trini, Winterthur 1995.
• The Italian Metamorphosis 1943–1968, exhibition catalog, Guggenheim Museum, 1994, New York.
• Nike Bätzner: Arte Povera. Texts on art theory. Philo, Berlin 1995 ISBN 3364003149 ( Germano Celant , Harald Szeemann ; Michelangelo Pistoletto , Jannis Kounellis , Mario Merz, Jean-Christophe Ammann , Renato Barilli , Achille Bonito Oliva , Piero Gilardi , Tommaso Trini , Giovanni Anselmo , Alighiero Boetti , Pier Paolo Calzolari , Luciano Fabro , Marisa Merz, Giulio Paolini , Pino Pascali , Giuseppe Penone , Emilio Prini , Gilberto Zorio , Marco Meneguzzo ).
• Verena Lueken , Madonnas with copper veils, FAZ March 28, 2017, on the exhibition at the Met Breuer Museum in New York.

Web links

• Fondazione merz about Marisa Merz
• Gladstone Gallery via Marisa Merz
• Marian Goodman Gallery Marisa Merz
• Maddalena Disch: Merz, Marisa. In: Sikart
• Marisa Merz ( Memento from October 11, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) in archive.org

Individual evidence

1. ↑ [1]
2. ^ Mousse Magazin.Retrieved April 17, 2013.
3. ↑ Naples Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Donna Regina: Biography Marisa Merz ( Memento of July 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive ).
4. ^ Vassivière Island Marisa Merz Retrieved April 17, 2013
5. ^ Contemporary Art Daily Marisa Merz at Monica de Cardenas.Retrieved April 17, 2013.
6. ↑ Giesela Kuoni: Art Bulletin 2013  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 1.9 MB) Retrieved April 17, 2013.