Arte Povera. History and stories

This book is being published in connection with the exhibitions being planned for 2011 all over Italy to mark the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy Starting with the cult book of 1985, this is an updated, detailed account of Arte Povera. For the first time, everything written by Germano Celant about the group of artists comprising Giovanni Anselmo, Alighiero Boetti, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Luciano Fabro, Jannis Kounellis, Mario Merz, Marisa Merz, Giulio Paolini, Pino Pascali, Giuseppe Penone, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Emilio Prini and Gilberto Zorio, for which he himself, in 1967, coined the term Arte Povera. This book is a collection of theoretical texts, focusing on both the art of the movement and the styles of the individual artists, and concentrates as much on the movement´s contingent side as on its fragmentary, contradictory, pluralistic way of creating art. But, above all, it is a comprehensive update on his reflections in 1985, the year of the book entitled Arte Povera, Stories and Protagonists, which was written by Celant himself, was never distributed and, since it was only circulated amongst those involved, became a much-sought-after and inaccessible cult item. This book contains a facsimile of the original, providing a source of reference and an opportunity to take a new look at Arte Povera.