Exhibitions2017Poor Art : Arte Povera

‘Arte Povera’ is internationally recognised as the most famous and influential development in Italian art of the late twentieth century. It was introduced as a loose term in 1967 to describe the practices of a number of Italian artists.

The exhibition highlighted the impact of Arte Povera on the work of some of the British artists for whom it has been a source of inspiration. It shows work by the movement’s key artists, including Alighiero Boetti, Mario Merz, Giuseppe Penone and Giulio Paolini alongside that of British artists such as Tony Cragg, Ceal Floyer, Mona Hatoum, Gavin Turk and Richard Long.

The show’s opening in September 2017 marked the 50th anniversary of an exhibition that has become a landmark of the post-war avant-garde: Arte Povera-Im Spazio, held at the Galleria La Bertesca in Genoa. The exhibition was devised and selected by artist Stephen Nelson and writer Martin Holman, and organised by the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art.