NEWS
PIETRO CONSAGRA. COLLOQUIO DIABOLICO. MILANO, CORTESI GALLERY
1 April - 27 June 2025
PIETRO CONSAGRA. COLLOQUIO DIABOLICO
Milano, Cortesi Gallery
Curated by Alberto Salvadori in collaboration with Archivio Pietro Consagra
This solo exhibition is part of the Cortesi Gallery’s program dedicated to Italian artists who have shaped the evolution of the 20th-century art world. The decision to present Consagra’s work stems from a desire to explore his contribution to the redefinition of modern sculpture, with a particular focus on “psychological” abstraction and the frontal orientation of his work. Complementing the sculptures is a selection of bitumen works on hardboard, in which one can perceive—and in some cases even discern—the creative process behind the Colloqui (created between 1952 and 1964), particularly their distinctive, almost two-dimensional quality, which is fundamental to understanding Pietro Consagra’s works.
The exhibition opens with Colloquio diabolico, a historic work in charred wood, bronze, and a white glaze, first presented at the 1960 Venice Biennale—the year Consagra was awarded the International Sculpture Prize—and now reintroduced to the Italian public in a new context after many decades.
In the creative process behind this work, in addition to fire—which becomes the most powerful medium—Consagra also uses special bronze connectors to link parts of the sculpture, which in turn engage in a direct dialogue with those who pause to look at it. These connecting elements take on conceptual and creative significance across the variety of thematic series and the diverse materials used by the sculptor, as seen, for example, in Colloquio (in white marble and bronze) and in the Bitumi—paintings that transpose the drawings from which each sculpture originates—both of which are featured in the exhibition.
In the years immediately following the Biennale, Consagra further honed his ability to reinvent sculpture through a continuous, empathetic relationship with society. His exploration of environmental sculpture—one that conveys moods—was enriched by new forms, dimensions, and materials.
His participation in 1962 in one of the most important exhibitions ever held in Italy dedicated to sculpture in public spaces—Sculture nella città in Spoleto—was pivotal. For the occasion, art critic Giovanni Carandente invited fifty-two of the leading sculptors of the 20th century—Alexander Calder, Lynn Chadwick, Henry Moore, David Smith, and Arnaldo Pomodoro, to name just a few—to exhibit in the Umbrian town during the Festival dei Due Mondi, an international cultural event that remains part of Spoleto’s summer program to this day. Consagra described that experience as “the greatest pleasure I’ve ever had with so many sculptors in the midst of everyday life… we had all given our best. Sculptors around the world will always be grateful to Giovanni Carandente, and Spoleto will remain unique.”
