The 60-year career of Italian sculptor/artist and all-around pioneer of midcentury European modernism, Fausto Melotti, is being presented with new fervour at Hauser & Wirth’s uptown gallery space in New York. While renowned for his influence and friendship with Lucio Fontana (a fellow student at the Accademia di Brera in Milan) in Europe, Melotti is less recognised in the United States, hence the premise of Hauser & Wirth’s exhibition.
Staged over three floors of its intimate gallery space and curated by Douglas Fogle, formerly the chief curator at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, ‘Fausto Melotti’ invites visitors to experience the thoughtful, delicate sculptures of the Italian master up close. Opening with a series of abstract plaster works from the 1930s that simultaneously showcase Melotti’s interest in classical music and mathematics with its motifs, and leading towards ceramic sculptures that demonstrate his later return to figuration circa the 1960s, the breadth of Melotti’s creations is apparent.
Shapes that mimic and articulate the human form in a variety of scales, such as The Seven Sages (1960) and various devil-like figures (1945) coincide with Melotti’s personal coming to terms with the reality and repercussions of the Second World War, which he lived through. In fact, the artist’s foray into ceramics was a result of his studio being bombed at the time, and he gravitated towards working in clay simply because the material was easier to come by.
The themes of humanity, harmony, geometry and order, along with highlighting the range of emotions that make up the human experience, are recurring aspects in Melotti’s works. Whether it’s the poetic simplicity of The Rain (1966) – a gold sculpture that ingeniously captures the movement of falling rain – or the graphic theatricality of his renowned ‘Teatrini’ ('Little Theatres') and of works such as The Shadow of the Soul (1984), Melotti was a master of invoking fragmented realities, with a gift for capturing the imagination of viewers that’s still so powerful today.
Staged in collaboration with Fondazione Fausto Melotti and curated by Douglas Fogle, the show includes key pieces from across the artist’s career. Pictured: The Journey of the Moon, 1973
Whether delicate metal sculptures, or his ceramic ‘Teatrini’ (’Little Theatres’), the themes of humanity, harmony, geometry and order are recurring aspects in Melotti’s works. Pictured left: The Snow, 1973. Right: The Hands, 1949
Although initially inspired by abstraction, Melotti made a return to figuration around the 1960s. Shapes that mimic and articulate the human form appear in a variety of scales, mirroring his coming to terms with the reality and repercussions with living through the Second World War. Pictured left: Devil, 1945. Right: Devil, 1945 (right)
Early plaster works from the 1930s simultaneously showcase Melotti’s interest in classical music and mathematics with their motifs. Pictured left: Sculpture No. 11, 1934. Right: Sculpture No. 24, 1935
Armed with a deft sense of theatricality, Melotti was a master of invoking fragmented realities, with a gift for capturing the imagination of viewers that’s still so powerful today. Pictured: The Shadow of the Soul, 1984, one of his last works
INFORMATION
’Fausto Melotti’ is on view until 18 June. For more information, visit Hauser & Wirth’s website
Photography courtesy of Fondazione Fausto Melotti and Hauser & Wirth
ADDRESS
Hauser & Wirth
32 East 69th Street
New York, NY 10021
-
Vivienne Westwood’s personal wardrobe goes up for sale in landmark Christie’s auctionThe proceeds of ’Vivienne Westwood: The Personal Collection’, running this June, will go to the charitable causes she championed during her lifetime
-
Montblanc’s leather goods evolution offers peak styleMontblanc takes design inspiration from its iconic writing archive for new collections of leather goods
-
Ray Phoenix to rise in ArizonaRay Phoenix housing project launches, designed by Johnston Marklee, who worked with Lamar Johnson Collaborative and artist Alex Israel, for property experts Ray and Vela
-
The cosmos meets art history in Vivian Greven’s New York exhibitionVivian Greven’s ‘When the Sun Hits the Moon’, at Perrotin in New York City, is the artist’s first solo exhibition in the USA
-
The Met’s ‘The Real Thing: Unpacking Product Photography’ dissects the avant-garde in early advertisingA new exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York explores the role of product photography and advertising in shaping the visual language of modernism
-
Who is the future of British art? Hauser & Wirth Somerset finds out‘Present Tense’ at Hauser & Wirth Somerset showcases some of Britain’s most exciting emerging talents with a group show of 23 artists
-
Detroit Institute of Arts celebrates Black cinema‘Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971’ at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) brings lost or forgotten films, filmmakers and performers to a contemporary audience
-
BLUM marks 30 years of Japanese contemporary art in AmericaBLUM will take ‘Thirty Years: Written with a Splash of Blood’ to its New York space in September 2024, continuing its celebration of Japanese contemporary art in America
-
Todd Gray’s sculptural photography collages defy dimension, linearity and narrativeIn Todd Gray’s New York exhibition, he revisits his 40-year archive, fragmented into elaborated frames that open doors for new readings
-
Frieze LA 2024 guide: the art, gossip and buzzOur Frieze LA 2024 guide includes everything you need to know and see in and around the fair
-
Peter Blake’s sculptures spark joy at Waddington Custot in London‘Peter Blake: Sculpture and Other Matters’, at London's Waddington Custot, spans six decades of the artist's career
