Canova/Rainer

The exhibition held at Museo Correr in Venice presents more than fifty works that the German artist Arnulf Rainer devoted to Antonio Canova. This last, defined by Rainer “the idol of my youth”, represents the thread running through the whole exhibition: actually, Rainer worked on photographical reproductions of famous sculptures by Canova on which he puts graphic signs, colours and painting changing them in absolutely new creations. The catalogue offers an exhaustive general view of the works on display, and it is introduced by an essay of the artist on his “rediscovery” of Canova. The path suggested to the visitors is more evocative thanks to the exhibiton halls, the neoclassic palace of Museo Correr, that still keeps a considerable collection of Canova's works. The setting permits an interesting confrontation between the two artists.

Arnulf Rainer was born in 1929 in Baden, near Vienna. During his activity he passed through various stylistical phases, at the beginning he was influenced by Surrealism (1947-51). Since 1953 he has created his first “supra-paintings” and starting from the 80s he has been mainly working on religious, naturalistic, mortuary subjects connected to disasters or catastrophes with an innumerable series of works.