Author(s): Bernhard Mendes Burgi

Art and Photography

The term "Arte Povera" was introduced by the influential critic and curator Germano Celant in 1967, to describe a new art that expressed the economic and cultural turbulence of the late 1960s in Italy. This art became identified with the use of "poor" materials such as soil, glass, wood and wax, but in fact its products ranged from paintings and sculptures to photographs and performances. Artists such as Giovanni Anselmo, Alighiero Boetti, Jannis Kounellis, Mario Merz, Pino Pascali, and Michelangelo Pistoletti were the stars of this new movement, and their innovations have made for a lasting legacy among subsequent generations exploring raw materials, the possibilities of the gallery space and everyday detritus. The Sammlung Goetz possesses one of the most comprehensive collections of Arte Povera, presented in this publication for the first time alongside archival photographs and documents.