The friendship between Marino Marini and Igor Stravinsky told in an exhibition with unpublished

From March 11 to May 30, 2022, the Marino Marini Museum in Florence presents the exhibition Pas de deux. Marino Marini Igor Stravinsky, curated by Luca Scarlini, which aims to trace the friendship and fellowship between Marino Marini and Igor Stravinsky through fifty works, many of which have never been exhibited.

The exhibition will document the previously unseen stages of the encounter between two of the most iconic artistic personalities of the twentieth century, which took place in 1948 inside the New York art gallery Curt Valentine and was illustrated in some of Marini’s most striking works: from the etchings of the Marino to Stravinsky series to the lithographs Personnages du sacre du printemps, to the only set design ever created by the artist, namely that for Stravinsky’s own La sagra della primavera, performed at La Scala on Dec. 8, 1972.

The second floor of the museum will display paintings dedicated to actors, dancers and jugglers and original engravings with a theatrical theme. On loan from the Marino Marini Foundation in Pistoia will be etchings and lithographs made between 1972 and 1974 in memory of the friend who died in 1971, as well as a bronze portrait of Stravinsky that the musician called “extraordinarily beautiful” and a series of documents, including tickets and correspondence exchanges, that testify to the esteem and artistic affinity between the two. Unluckily lost after the show’s debut, the backdrops painted by Marini for Stravinsky’s ballet will be projected digitally, and one of them will be reproduced on canvas. The staging will be curated by Marisa Coppiano.

Marino Marini had refused to work for the theater many times before, and it was only his deep affection for his friend that convinced him. The result was extraordinary works, which helped make the ballet, directed by Bruno Maderna with choreography by John Taras and starring étoile Natalia Makarova, a clear success.

“Encounters between artists from different disciplines generate rich legacies,” Scarlini explains. "The twentieth century was a time of great encounters: the work of well-known artists with distinguished composers was born out of elective affinities. Dancing for Marino had been an important seduction since his youth, as evidenced by the extensive sequence of dancers, large and small, and the numerous pictorial and etching works. Pas de deux: Marino Marini Igor Stravinsky tells with unpublished or little-seen works the story of a friendship that is also a sincere sharing of a feeling of art as an evocation of ancient vital rhythms, which the last century had rediscovered after a long oblivion."

The exhibition project is realized and supported with the contribution of Fondazione CR Firenze and Intesa Sanpaolo. Loans are made possible thanks to the Marino Marini Foundation of Pistoia and the Teatro alla Scala.

For info: www.museomarinomarini.it

Hours: Saturday, Sunday and Monday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Tickets: Full 6 euros, reduced 4 euros.

Image: Marino Marini, The great theater of masks, detail

The friendship between Marino Marini and Igor Stravinsky told in an exhibition with unpublished

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.