Mirella Bentivoglio

Mirella Bentivoglio (28 March 1922 – 23 March 2017) was an Italian sculptor, poet, performance artist and curator.

In the 1960s she joined the international concrete poetry movement. She participated in exhibitions all over the world, including the Venice Biennale (eight times from 1969 to 2001) and at the Museum of Modern Art (1992).

Bentivoglio's work is pervaded by a wry critique of Western societies, their patriarchal structures, obsession with material consumption, pollution of the environment and celebration of power over compassion. As a curator and a critic, she always worked to promote women artists. Mirella grew up in Milan and studied in Italy, Switzerland and England. When Bentivoglio's studies were interrupted by World War II, she continued to educate herself by consulting her father's extensive library.

In the 1960s Bentivoglio began to focus on the expressive visualization of language. At that time she joined the concrete poetry movement, and she started using alphabetic elements to create images. Examples of this creative period include Successo (Success), 1968, and Pagina-finestra (Window-Page), 1971. Bentivoglio also joined the visual poetry movement, mixing linguistic and iconic elements. Fiore Nero (Black Flower), from 1971, is considered one of the best representation of her visual poetry work.

In 2012 the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna in Rome organized a retrospective about her work on the occasion of the artist's 90th birthday.

Bentivoglio died on 23 March 2017 in Rome. She was 94.

Selected exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions 1971 - Arturo Schwarz Gallery, Milan 1973 - Klingspor Museum, Offenbach 1977 - Italian House, Rochester, New York; The Poetry Collection, University of Buffalo 1978 - Italian Cultural Institute, New York 1981 - Metronom, Barcelona 1987 - Tower of the Leper, Aoste, Italy 1988 - Writers' Forum, London 1991 - Art Center, Edewecht 1999 - National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC 2012 - Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome

Group Exhibitions 1969, 1972, 1978, 1980, 1986, 1995 - Venice Biennale 1973, 1981, 1994 - São Paulo Art Biennial 1982 - documenta, Kassel 1978 - 1981, 1982, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris 1986 - Rome Quadriennale 1992 - Museum of Modern Art, New York 1994 - Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice 2012 - Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto