(Bergamo 1908–1991 Rome)
Ragazza in poltrona, 1975, signed on a side of the figure Manzù, ebony, unique piece, 122 x 100 x 116 cm

Photo certificate:
Fondazione Giacomo Manzù, Ardea

Provenance:
Collection I. Manzù, Ardea
European Private Collection

Exhibited:
New York, Giacomo Manzù, Sacred and Profane, Wildenstein & C. Gallery, September/November 1989
Zurich, Manzù: Skulpturen, Zeichnungen, Radierungen, Kunstsalon Wolfsberg, May/June 1990, with ill. on the catalogue cover
Forli, Manzù, Rocca di Ravaldino, 1996
Ferrara, Manzù, Palazzo dei Diamanti, June/September 1992
Matera, Matera: Omaggio a Giacomo Manzù, Palazzo dell’Annunziata, February/May 2000
Rome, Giacomo Manzù, l’Uomo e l’Artista, Palazzo Venezia, November 2002/March 2003
Ancona, Manzù: l’Avventura di Ulisse, Mole Vanvitelliana, July/November 2005
Rome, Omaggio a Manzù, Palazzi Incontro, December 2006/January2007

Literature:
Mario de Micheli, Manzù, F. lli Fabbri ed., 1988, p. 240 with ill.

“If I compare my work with my current aspirations and my childhood dreams, everything feels like a half-way house. But this notwithstanding, I start work every morning as if it were my first, and in my work I feel the day’s disposition, need, and impetus. I know it isn’t much, but it is the only true and honest thing I can say about myself as a man and sculptor.”

G. Manzù, cited in I. Schabel Manzù, Lo scultore e la ballerina.
La mia vita con Giacomo, Corponove, Bergamo 1993.

The 1970s were a happy period in Giacomo Manzù’s life. The artist creates joyful themes, dedicated to beauty and the female form. The recurrent motif of the female figure seated on a chair or dynamically arranged in an armchair evolves over these years through a variety of interpretations.
As Flaminio Gualdoni notes: “Breaking profiles down into fissures which cleave space, sometimes tapering the figure to the point of austerity that counts not as stylisation but as the drainage of accidental sensual traits into a purified plasticity – this is the thought process which generates work such as ‘Girl in an armchair’ in the 1970s, and which testifies to the ‘discovery’ of hardwood.” Black, rare, seductive, precious ebony is worked in successively joined segments which add to the silky luminosity of the surface, the richness of the mosaic. Manzù, ever on guard against simple solutions, challenges himself with this new material in the creation of some extremely rare sculptures.

“Manzù, sculpture is a ray of moon”
Cesare Brandi

Tags:
Giacomo Manzù, Giacomo Manzu