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 Germaine Richier
October 28, 2006–February 5, 2007

Germaine Richier marks the return to the limelight of one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century. Along with Alberto Giacometti and Marino Marini, Richier (1902—1959) was a central protagonist of the postwar avant-garde.

This retrospective, the artist's first in Italy, presents a selection of almost 60 works—including bronze sculptures, small casts, lithographs, and drawings—that creates a chronological and analytical view of Richier's tortured artistic path. The human being represents both the point of the departure and the inspiration for her oeuvre, which combines the violence of Expressionism's formal language with the mysterious fantasies of Surrealism. Richier achieved dramatic results using only the most basic tools: "It is necessary to feel one's own hands and passions," she said, "because sculpture is an intimate and private thing. It is alive and it has its own rules."



Germaine Richier, Tauromachy (Tauromachie), 1953. Bronze, h. 43 7/8 inches; base 37 11/16 x 20 11/16 x 1 3/16 inches. Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice 76.2553. © 2006 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York