In 1967 the critic Germano Celant coined the term Arte Povera to describe the work of Italian artists making use of simple materials to achieve their artistic statements in a reaction against the commercial pressures of the art market in the late 1960s. Artists associated with Arte Povera include Luciano Fabro, Giulio Paolini, Jannia Kounellis, Mario Merz, and Alighiero Boetti. The term has subsequently been used to describe work in a wide range of mediums, including sculpture, installation, Land Art, and performance. In this fully illustrated survey, Robert Lumley provides a concise and accessible account of the phenomenon of Arte Povera. He identifies key events in the history of the movement and explains the cultural context that gave rise to it and its abiding influence on art today. This is the ideal book for anyone who wants to explore one of the formative movements in the development of contemporary art.
