(Mazara del Vallo, Trapani 1920–2005 Milan)
Colloquio definitivo, 1960, signed and dated Consagra 60, bronze, golden brown patina, 155 x 116 x 8 cm

Provenance:
Galerie de France, Paris
Private Collection, Italy

Exhibited:
Venice, XXX Esposizione Biennale Internazionale d’Arte, 1960, solo exhibition
Paris, Consagra, Galerie de France, 1960, cat. curated by Nello Ponente, ill.

The work was given as a loan by Galerie de France to Fondation Maeght, St. Paul de Vence for about ten years.

Milan, Pietro Consagra, Scultura e Architettura, Accademia di Belle Arte di Brera, 1996

Literature:
G. C. Argan, Pietro Consagra, Editions du Griffon, Neuchâtel 1962, no. 55
G. M. Accame/G. di Milia (curated by) Pietro Consagra, Scultura e Architettura, catalogue of the above mentioned exhibition, Mazzotta (ed.), 1996, p. 99 ill.

Consagra worked on the „Colloqui“ („Conversations“) for a decade from 1952 to 1962. These works represent the artist’s desire to add a human dimension to sculpture. The conversations alluded to in the title of the works take place on various levels: between the viewer and the object, on a perceptual level; between two opposing elements within the object, on a formal level; between depth and superficiality (Argan 1956), on a sculptural and spatial level. In any case, the conversation can only take place within the dual dimension and frontality that Consagra delineates as the extent of his sphere of operation. (…)
The viewer can grasp the shape with a single glance. (…)
The meeting with the „other“ is given expression by a drive and a tension that connect two or more distinct blocks, „figures“ constrained by solidarity or by sex. Consagra pursues this avenue in parallel through the media of bronze and wood. In bronze, the „empty“ marks and the areas of shadow are depicted through overlapping elements; in wood, these become burn marks rendered by a blowtorch. The idea is that of a defining principle, an articulated form such as the human face, an architectural façade within which doors, windows, protrusions and hollows, produce quasi-pictorial effects.
Consagra’s ostracism from the Venice Biennale in 1948 was followed by constant participation in successive years, including private exhibition rooms in 1956 and 1960. These, together with his first exhibitions abroad, signal the confirmation of Consagra’s work among international collectors. Consagra’s personal exhibition at the 1960 Biennale won the Grand Award for Sculpture, awarded by Giulio Carlo Argan.

Provenance:
Galerie de France, Paris
Private Collection, Italy

Exhibited:
Venice, XXX Esposizione Biennale Internazionale d’Arte, 1960, solo exhibition
Paris, Consagra, Galerie de France, 1960, cat. curated by Nello Ponente, ill.

The work was given as loan from Galerie de France to Fondation Maeght, St. Paul de Vence for about ten years.

Milan, Pietro Consagra, Scultura e Architettura, Accademia di Belle Arte di Brera, 1996

Literature:
G. C. Argan, Pietro Consagra, Editions du Griffon, Neuchâtel 1962, no. 55
G. M. Accame/G. di Milia (curated by) Pietro Consagra, Scultura e Architettura, catalogue of the above mentioned exhibition, Mazzotta (ed.), 1996, p. 99 ill.

Consagra worked on the „Colloqui“ („Conversations“) for a decade from 1952 to 1962. These works represent the artist’s desire to add a human dimension to sculpture. The conversations alluded to in the title of the works take place on various levels: between the viewer and the object, on a perceptual level; between two opposing elements within the object, on a formal level; between depth and superficiality (Argan 1956), on a sculptural and spatial level. In any case, the conversation can only take place within the dual dimension and frontality that Consagra delineates as the extent of his sphere of operation. (…)
The viewer can grasp the shape with a single glance. (…)
The meeting with the „other“ is given expression by a drive and a tension that connect two or more distinct blocks, „figures“ constrained by solidarity or by sex. Consagra pursues this avenue in parallel through the media of bronze and wood. In bronze, the „empty“ marks and the areas of shadow are depicted through overlapping elements; in wood, these become burn marks rendered by a blowtorch. The idea is that of a defining principle, an articulated form such as the human face, an architectural façade within which doors, windows, protrusions and hollows, produce quasi-pictorial effects.
Consagra’s ostracism from the Venice Biennale in 1948 was followed by constant participation in successive years, including private exhibition rooms in 1956 and 1960. These, together with his first exhibitions abroad, signal the confirmation of Consagra’s work among international collectors. Consagra’s personal exhibition at the 1960 Biennale won
the Grand Award for Sculpture, awarded by Giulio Carlo Argan.