Italian artist Piero Manzoni was one of the pre-eminent exponents of 20th century conceptual art. Born in 1933 in Soncino, Manzoni began studying law at the Accademia di Brera in Milan in 1951. In 1954 he cut short his law studies in order to pursue degrees in art and philosophy, first in Rome later in Milan. Manzoni had begun taking private painting lessons in 1953. His early works were traditional landscapes and portraits, but from 1954 onward – inspired by artists such as Alberto Burri, Lucio Fontana and Jean Fautrier – he began experimenting with materials such as oil, plaster and enamel. In 1957 Manzoni, along with Fontana, joined the Gruppo Nucleare, which attempted to reject all forms of academicism. Impressed by Yves Klein’s monochrome works, Manzoni strove toward a complete detachment from colour and form, seeking to create pure works that were free from all associations as an expression of total emptiness.
These ideas resulted in the Achromes, colourless images created using materials such as cotton, cotton wool, or fur on plaster ground, with which Manzoni provoked his audiences and challenged the conventional ways of seeing. Manzoni’s work was shown in 1968 at documenta 5 in Kassel as well as at the Venice Biennale in 1972. He has been featured in numerous solo exhibitions, including at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in 1991, the Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Donnaregina in Naples in 2007 and at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt/Main in 2013. His work is represented in many important public collections including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Tate Modern in London and the Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Turin. Piero Manzoni died in Milan in 1963.
Exhibitions
Publications
Exhibitions
Yu-un Obayashi Collection / Shugo Arts, Tokyo, Japan
Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, Schiedam, Netherlands
Museo Novecento, Florence, Italy
Castello Acaja, Fossano, Italy
Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
Mazzoleni Art, London, UK
MAM Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Palazzo Reale, Milan, Italy
Städel Museum, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
Gagosian Gallery, New York, USA
HEART - Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Herning, Denmark
MADRE - Museo D'Arte Contemporanea Donna Regina, Naples, Italy
Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne, Germany
Sprovieri, London, UK
Studio Gastaldelli, Milan, Italy
Società per le Belle Arti ed Esposizione Permanente, Milan, Italy
Randers Kunstmuseum, Randers, Denmark
Serpentine Gallery, London, UK
Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne, Germany
Palazzo Reale, Milan, Italy
La Foce, Castelluccio di Pienza, Italy
Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, Netherlands
Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn, Germany
Museo d'Arte Della Citta di Ravenna, Ravenna, Italy
Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Yayoi Kusama Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Centre Pompidou Metz, Metz, France
Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Liechtenstein
XNL Piacenza Contemporanea, Piacenza, Italy
Galleria Comunale D'arte Contemporanea Di Monfalcone, Monfalcone, Italy
ZKM Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe, Germany
Museo del Paesaggio di Torre di Mosto,Torre di Mosto, Italy
Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Herning, Denmark
Berardo Museum, Lisbon, Portugal
TornabuoniArt, Paris, France
National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan
mumok - Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna, Austria
Museo di Santa Caterina, Treviso, Italy
Bündner Kunstmuseum, Chur, Switzerland
Sammlung Goetz, Munich, Germany
Museion, Bolzano, Italy
Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy
Mazzoleni London, London, UK
MMK - Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt a. Main, Germany
Sam and Ayala Zacks Pavillon, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
The Warehouse, Dalls, TX, USA
Nahmad Contemporary, New York, NY, USA
Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Liechtenstein
mumok - Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna, Austria
Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
MACBA - Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
HEART - Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Herning, Denmark
Fondazione Magnani Rocca, Parma, Italy
National Academy Museum, New York, NY, USA
Tate Liverpool, UK; travelled to: MMK - Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am. Main, Germany, Centre Pompidou, Metz, France
Museum Brandhorst, Munich, Germany
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Liechtenstein
Gropius Bau, Berlin, Germany
Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden, Germany
Museu de Arte de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
National Academy Museum, New York, NY, USA
Museum im Kulturspeicher, Würzburg, Germany
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY, USA
Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy
Museo Marino Marini, Florence, Italy
Palazzo Ottolenghi, Asti, Italy
Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
Fundacao Ibere Camargo, Porto Alegre, Brazil
Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany
Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam, Netherlands
François Pinault Foundation, Venice, Italy
Musée Réattu, Arles, France
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Kunsthalle Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, Netherlands
CAMeC - Centro de Arte Moderna e Contemporanea della Spezia, La Spezia, Italy
MuHKA - Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, Antwerp, Belgium
Museo del Novecento, Milan, Italy
Kanalidarte, Brescia, Italy
Niigata City Art Museum, Niigata, Japan
Fondazione Prada, Venice, Italy