Manzù's Materiality: Wax as A Watershed in Italian Sculpture of the 1930s.

Mineo, Silvia

Item

Manzù's Materiality: Wax as A Watershed in Italian Sculpture of the 1930s.

Mineo, Silvia

Abstract

Despite the extensive bibliography on one of the most influential Italian sculptors of the XX century, the wax production of Giacomo Manzù still remains little discussed. Finding a formula to frame Manzù’s art it is as complex as it could be inconclusive. Manzù’s spirit appears clearly through his sculptures, however, to grasp this sincere clarity is essential to research into one of the fundamental moments in his career, which took place in the 1930s. The use of wax, which had long been restricted mainly to the connection with Turin sculptor Medardo Rosso, provides the possibility of exploring and understand how the the form for Manzù only constitutes the result of the material process. Differently from other sculptors of the 1930s, for Manzù the form is not the final destination of the sculpture and does not come before the creative force that shapes the medium.