The creations of renowned Italian creator Michelangelo Pistoletto have recently gained prominence as the 91-year-old was nominated for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize last week.
Attracting international attention in the early 1960s for his “Mirror Paintings,” Pistoletto leveraged his artwork to advocate for the “Third Paradise” initiative – the idea that art can foster harmony among communities.
Tenley Bick, an Associate Professor of Global Modern and Contemporary Art at Florida State University, is a leading authority on Pistoletto. As a professor and historian in the Art History Department within the College of Fine Arts, Bick has authored a new book that delves into Pistoletto’s investigation of the human form and offers fresh insights on the narrative of postwar and contemporary art. It marks the first English-language monograph dedicated to the artist and the first comprehensive study on him in any language since the mid-1980s.
“Pistoletto has maintained a significant role in art history scholarship and on the global art stage for more than sixty years,” Bick stated. “Despite his influence on modern and contemporary art, he remains an artist whose extensive and diverse portfolio across various media (including painting, sculpture, and performance) continues to resist simple classification and has, until this point, likely not been the focus of a single-author academic analysis.”
Highlighting Pistoletto’s exploration of traditional figuration as an essential model for postwar artistic practice, her book provides a contrasting narrative to prevailing histories of postwar art, both in Italy and beyond.
She became the first American to accept an invitation as a Scholar in Residence at the Magazzino Italian Art Foundation, a museum and research center located just north of New York City. This fellowship-residency granted Bick the resources necessary to access the artwork and literature needed to finalize her monograph on Pistoletto for publication.
Bick specializes in numerous aspects of art history, including Italian modernism, contemporary African art and cinema, as well as art from the 1960s and 1970s, among other fields. Her research has appeared in nearly twenty publications.
For media inquiries regarding Pistoletto and his oeuvre, please reach out to Bick at [email protected].
Tenley Bick, Associate Professor of Global Modern and Contemporary Art, Florida State University
What motivated your analysis of Michelangelo Pistoletto’s work over the years?
“My analysis of his art was influenced by the artist’s rise in postwar Italy, during a period of remarkable artistic innovation and social-political turmoil. I was also captivated by the engaging nature of this artist’s creations, which frequently, through the use of reflective materials and representations of the human form, integrates the physical environment of the artwork’s installation and the viewer’s own reflection into the previously distinct, representational realm of painting. Additionally, I was intrigued by the numerous inquiries that I believe his art raises concerning the major narratives of modern and contemporary art. If abstract art, for instance, has predominated the narratives of art following World War II, how do we reconcile the works of Pistoletto, who has persistently concentrated on the portrayal of the human figure and experimentation in figuration—approaches that seem incompatible with now established histories of what is deemed ‘radical’ or avant-garde artistic endeavors? Ultimately, I was inspired by his unwavering commitment to creative expression and faith in art as a vehicle for societal change, as seen in his collaboration with intergovernmental entities like the U.N. That conviction and effort is awe-inspiring, and justifiably recognized, I believe, by his recent nomination for a Nobel Peace Prize.”
In what ways does your new book delve into the influence of Pistoletto’s artwork?
“My book investigates Pistoletto in terms of both the ways he is most recognized and in innovative frameworks that we might, upon closer examination of his art, consider today. Pistoletto is perhaps most distinguished as an artist connected with, and in many respects the pioneer of, Arte Povera, a term that translates to ‘poor’ or ‘impoverished art.’ Arte Povera represented a loosely organized avant-garde movement of primarily Italian creators from the late 1960s and early 1970s, known for their use of unconventional, transient, and affordable materials, a rejection of representation and the commercialization of distinctive artistic style, and an eagerness to blend art and life. Coined by the now-deceased Italian curator and critic Germano Celant in 1967, Arte Povera encompassed varied practices and is best understood as one theoretical and curatorial (and now historical, but still critically relevant) framework for these artists’ outputs. A thorough examination of individual practices from that era and beyond, across the broader spectrum of these artists’ careers, often unveils other histories and alternative perspectives on their work. I believe this applies to Pistoletto, whose work, despite being central to the theorization of the movement, often diverged from Arte Povera’s historical interpretation, notably with his lifelong examination of the human figure and his interest in figuration as a representational system.”
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