Pietro Consagra Catalogo Ragionato

Edited by Luca Massimo Barbero, arranged chronologically and divided according to the different work types found in his vast repertoire, it constitutes a new privileged point of view that thoroughly covers his oeuvre, which reveals not only the extraordinary wealth of works that made him famous but also the great variety of different cycles that constantly nurtured his career. The outcome of the monumental and painstaking work of cataloguing, archiving and documenting the authenticity of the Archivio Pietro Consagra, directed by Gabriella Di Milia, this catalogue raisonné constitutes the first examination of the artist’s sculpture work. With over 650 pages, the catalogue offers an in-depth essay by Luca Massimo Barbero and further historical-artistic analysis by Gabriella Di Milia and Francesca Pola. Completely illustrated in colour, the catalogue includes over 1,600 works made between 1937 and 2004, accompanied by entries that offer a precise bibliographical and exhibition analysis. It documents his early works, from the first sculptures to those realized in Rome after the war, in the context of the European avant-garde, revealing the birth of rigorous abstract investigations, related to synthesis and to colour. A vast selection is then dedicated to works from the 1950s, which document the birth and definition of frontal sculpture, a typical aspect of Consagra’s work, analysing the execution techniques and types that in those years led him to become a reference for international sculpture. This is the case for the Colloqui, a sculptural invention started in 1952 and based on the dialogue between two elements joined together, which through frontality establish a new relationship between sculpture and space. This reflection that over the decades is elaborated, for example with the Ferri trasparenti, continues until the late 1960s by conceiving an actual Città frontale. The publication continues across the decades, for example with the Pietre in precious marble and