Marino Marini is born in Pistoia in 1901. He attends the Accademia di Belle Arti, an art school in Florence. In 1929, he succeeds sculptor Arturo Martini, whom he greatly admires, as a professor at the Scuola d’Arte di Villa Reale in Monza, near Milan. In 1935, he wins the Quadriennale di Roma, and in 1936, he moves to Switzerland. In 1940, he is appointed as a professor in sculptural art at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan. In 1946, he settles in Milan.
Marini’s participation in an exhibition in New York, in 1950, brings him into contact with leading American and European artists, and exhibitions in Hamburg and Munich follow. He is present at the Documenta I, II and III (1955, 1959 and 1964) in Kassel.
Although he paints and draws, Marini is best known as a sculptor. He is inspired by ancient Greek and Etruscan art. The female nude, the portrait bust and horse and rider are central themes in his work. Over the years, his work becomes more abstract, but his motifs stay recognizable.
Marini has an extensive graphic oeuvre to his name. Around 1920, he creates a small number of etchings. However, it is only in 1941 that he returns to graphic art, which he continues to produce until his death in 1980.
