Arte Povera Pioneer Giovanni Anselmo Dies at 89, Guggenheim Bilbao Exhibition Planned

Giovanni Anselmo, a central figure in Italy's Arte Povera movement, has died at age 89. His 1968 work 'Untitled: Sculpture that Eats'—featuring lettuce between granite blocks—became emblematic of the movement's use of humble materials. Born near Turin in 1934, Anselmo lived and worked primarily in that city, where Castello di Rivoli mounted a major retrospective in 2016. He participated in multiple Venice Biennales, winning the Golden Lion in 1990, and showed at Documenta in 1972 and 1982. A new exhibition, 'Giovanni Anselm: Beyond the Horizon,' is scheduled to open at the Guggenheim Bilbao in February 2024. Alongside peers like Jannis Kounellis and Marisa Merz, Anselmo helped define postwar Italian art through works that challenged traditional art materials. The movement was theorized by curator Germano Celant as employing 'poor' natural and industrial substances. Anselmo's death marks the loss of a key protagonist from the 1960s avant-garde.