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3240* MARINOMARINI(Pistoia 1901 – 1980 Viareggio)
Cavallo nero. 1953.
Oil, tempera and ink on paper, on canvas.
Signed and dated lower right: Marino 1953.
44.5 x 63.5 cm.
The authenticity of the work has been
confirmed by Teresa Tosi, Fondazione
Marini, no. 293.
Provenance:
- Dunkelman Gallery, Toronto.
- Phillips, de Pury & Luxembourg, New
York, 16 May 2003, lot 171.
- Private collection, New York, bought
there by the present owner.
Mario Marini almost exclusively concentra-
ted his work on two pictorial themes: the
female figure and the theme of horse and
rider. The latter dominated his work and is
also the main subject of our painting. For
Marini, the horse was a universal symbol
for the animal element in man, repre-
senting virility, speed and mastery. The
representation and importance of the hor-
se changed throughout the course of his
artistic practice.
From the 1950s onwards, the unity of
the picture began to dissolve. The animal
began to decay, losing its elegance and
becoming something formidable. 'Since
my childhood, I have observed these
beings, man and horse, and they were for
me a question mark. In the beginning there
was a ‘harmony’ between them, but in the
end, in contrast to this unity, the violent
world of the machine arrives, a world which
captures it in a dramatic, though no less
lively and vitalizing way’. (cited in: M. Marini
aus Pistoia, 1979, p. 29-30)
CHF 80 000 / 120 000
(€ 71 430 / 107 140)