LONDON.- ‘Arte Povera’ is internationally recognised as the most famous and influential development in Italian art of the late twentieth century. It was introduced as a loose term in 1967 to describe the practices of a number of Italian artists. This exhibition highlights the impact of Arte Povera on the work of some of the British artists for whom it has been a source of inspiration. It shows work by the movement’s key artists, including Alighiero Boetti, Mario Merz, Giuseppe Penone and Giulio Paolini alongside that of British artists such as Tony Cragg, Ceal Floyer, Mona Hatoum, Gavin Turk and Richard Long. Poor Art | Arte Povera runs at the Estorick Collection from 20 September until 17 December 2017.

Arte Povera emerged in the years following the rapid economic and technological growth that transformed Italian post-war society, when the economy began to slow and social tensions grew. Distinguished by a radically free attitude to materials and form, Arte Povera involved its audiences in the active perception of the physical and social world through individual experience. Over the decades, contemporary art in Britain has absorbed approaches derived from this way of working, from the ‘New Sculpture’ of the early 1980s and the installations of the nineties, through to the present day. Arte Povera embraced diverse cultural and philosophical connotations, although the artists grouped under its name are now mostly associated with using plain, everyday objects and organic substances collected from the home, workshop, street and landscape, sometimes placed in dynamic contrast with man-made industrial materials.

The show’s opening in September 2017 marks the 50th anniversary of an exhibition that has become a landmark of the post-war avant-garde: Arte Povera - Im Spazio.
Held at the Galleria La Bertesca in Genoa, it introduced the concept of an arte povera – literally ‘poor art’ – that the show’s curator, Italian critic Germano Celant, had identified in the working practices and shared concerns of a number of young Italian artists.

The Italian artists in the exhibition include: Alighiero Boetti, Mario Merz, Giuseppe Penone, Giulio Paolini, Michelangelo Pistoletto and Gilberto Zorio. The British artists are: Eric Bainbridge, Tony Cragg, Ceal Floyer, Anya Gallaccio, Mona Hatoum, Jefford Horrigan, Stephen Nelson, Lucy Skaer, Gary Stevens, Jo Stockham and Gavin Turk, plus the pivotal figure of Richard Long, who participated in the first international Arte Povera event in Amalfi in 1968. The exhibition has been devised and selected by artist Stephen Nelson and writer Martin Holman, and organised by the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art. Stephen Nelson has commented:

‘This year is the 50th anniversary of Arte Povera’s original exhibition and it’s a moment to acknowledge its importance. This exhibition presents artists I have admired and encountered over 25 years, and who I believe embody the spirit of the arte povera movement.’