Umberto Mastroianni's Venice Exhibition Juxtaposes Bronze and Torn Cardboard

The exhibition 'Umberto Mastroianni. Figure e Astrazioni 1931-1996' in Venice contrasts Mastroianni's bronze sculptures from the 1930s and 1940s with his colored and lacerated cardboard works from the post-war period to the 1990s. The show includes about 50 'Cartoni' with original 'drawer' frames designed by the artist to prevent paper warping, covering his abstract phase from 1949 to 1992. Early figurative works like 'Ragazzo fiorentino' (1931) and 'Nudo di giovane atleta' (1938) reference Greco-Roman sculpture, while 'Maschera n.1' (1957) marks a break into modernity. Critic Lionello Venturi noted that Mastroianni's essentially abstract forms carry such humanity they often feel figurative, and that his work transcends the sculpture/painting dichotomy, possessing painting's splendor and sculpture's solidity. The artist himself said in 1991 that war shattered his world, leading to a new consciousness of freedom, and that understanding an artist requires considering all seasons of their work. The exhibition is held at Palazzo Pisani Revedin.