Marino Marini’s M’s (1951-1978)
Marini, Untitled (1955) Tempera and ink on paper. Private collection.
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Marino Marini was a mid-20th-century sculptor and draughtsman who specialized in horses and their riders. Yet any good artist with a name like that - and his wife was Marina, too - would have plenty of M's in his work. And so he does. At left a drawing has his last name "Marini" written on what resembles a building with the legs of the horse in the corner forming an M. Surprisingly, no-one seems to question a horse with three legs.
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From top left, clockwise:
Colored Game (1978) Pencil and tempera on card on canvas
Small Horse (1953) Tempera on paper
Rider and Horse (1959) Lithograph
Horse on a Green Ground (1957) Lithograph
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All four of these horses and their riders also form M's though they were made over a 25-year period.
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Marini, Portrait of Paolo (unknown date) Mixed media on card
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Even his figures are drawn M-shaped. Here there might even be a double M for Marino Marini because the dark creases around his groin appear somewhat artificial as though intentionally altered to form a second M below the principal one, partly veiled by his hand.
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L: Marini, Thread-like Horse (1951) Bronze. 31cm high. Private Collection
R: Marini, Composition (1956) Bronze. 42.5cm high. Fondazione Marino Marini, Pistoia
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Sculpture is more difficult to form into letters but these relatively thin bronzes, the principal view of which is from the side, are shaped like M's again. Rarely is an artist's initial quite so obvious in his work as Marini's. Yet, as far as I know, they have never been noted in print. Marini, of course, was not alone.....
See conclusion below
Dozens of examples by other M-inent artists who had done likewise before, most notably Manet, Matisse and Miró, can be found on the Letters in Art page.
More Works by Marini
Notes:
Publication Date: 06 Aug 2015
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