Fausto Melotti - La Forestina

Fausto Melotti

La Forestina
1971

Stainless steel. 32 x 20 x 12 cm. Signed 'Melotti' (scratched) on plinth. One of 3 works. - Minor traces of age.

Poetry and mathematics are the two counter points that play a decisive role in defining Melotti's metal and wire sculptures of the 1960s and 1970s. Characterised by light and filigree coolness, they are in opposition to his earth-bound, archaic figures and low reliefs made of plaster and terracotta that were created in early work phases but, in some cases, also simultaneously.
In lyrical works such as “La Forestina” (the little forest) geometric forms symbolise all-encompassing valid natural motifs - entirely abstract yet easily recognizable. The rhythmised harmony of the nine identical tree symbols rooted on a square base in precise rows is only interrupted by the “braids” hanging from one of them in form of delicate chain links. With this playful element, the purist austerity of the construction is given the narrative moment that constitutes the magic of Melotti's works.

List of works

Germano Celant, Melotti, Catalogo Generale, Sculture 1929-1972, Milan 1994, cat.rais.no. 1971 46

Provenance

Private collection, Hesse

Literature

Tiziana F. Conti, L'arte? È come un viaggio, Arte In, Venice 1991, p.54 with colour illus. (different example)

Exhibitions

Sartirana Lomellina 1986 (Castello di Sartirana), Fausto Melotti, Opere 1954-1986, exhib.cat., p.28 with illus. (different example)