Periods, Cultures, Styles  > Arte Povera

Arte Povera

The term Arte Povera [poor art] was coined by the Italian art critic and curator Germano Celant to refer to artists who often exhibited together in the late 1960s though each worked in different styles, with diverse materials, and with varying concepts. One commonality they shared was that they each sought to bring life and art together. They encouraged viewers to actively engage with the artwork and experience underlying forces that we all respond to such as fire, gravity, electricity, or social and political tensions that existed in the present moment. Though these artists often utilized common, everyday “poor” materials such as glass, metal, stone, beeswax, and dirt in their work, this was not the basis for the term “Arte Povera.” Instead, Celant envisioned Arte Povera artists as stripping away—impoverishing—the codified ideas, words, and ideologies attached to traditional western culture to allow the viewer to have a more direct experience of art and life.