, 1969, manufactured in Giacomo Manzù’s foundry in Ardea, Italy, bronze, 3-centimetre-thick ovoid Bohemian crystal glass top, bevelled edges, incised signature: Manzù, 180.5 cm x 137 cm, height 52 cm, bronze “ribbon” 160 x 83 cm. (DRAX)

A unique item. Made for the large living room at Manzù’s own home in Campo del Fico near Ardea south of Rome, where he lived and worked until his death.

Provenance:
Giacomo Manzù, Ardea, uninterrupted family ownership, in situ in his house until 2019

Lit.:
La Raccoltà Manzù. Ardea, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, 1994, p. 70, no. 70 (“Grande Nastro”, c. 1969), p.127, no. 76 (Grande Nastro, c. 1973), p. 126, no. 75 (Nastro, c. 1973) as comparable sculptural examples; F. Farina, Giacomo Manzù. Opere 1930–1990, Ferrara 1992, p.55, no. 37; Giacomo Manzù, Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Bergamo 2004, pp. 6/7 (“Giulia e Mileto in carozza”, c. 1966)

Despite the heaviness of the material, the curved form of the bronze band appears to be lightweight and suggests an infinite circular movement. Manzù also used this motif for two sculptures set up in the garden of the Museo Manzù in Ardea, “Grande Nastro”, c. 1969, and “Nastro”, c. 1973. They must be seen as directly related to the sculptural foot of the table and reveal the artist’s intensive exploration of frozen movement becoming abstract form (La Raccoltà Manzù, p. 120).

Giacomo Manzù had moved to Ardea in 1964, conducting an open house as a successful artist who received numerous prominent visitors from politics, the film industry, and the business world, as is testified to by family photographs. Not far from there Manzù realised his idea of a museum of his own to permanently exhibit his work. The “Raccoltà Amici di Manzù” was opened in 1969 and has been open to the public since 1981.