FRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA


Born amongst a family of peasants, Francesco Marino di Teana was successively a shepherd, a mason in Italy (Teana), site foreman, architect and student at the Art University of Argentina before moving to Paris in 1953. He was a painter, sculptor, architect, poet and philosopher and becomes one of the major sculptors of the 20th with his theories on “triunitarian” logic and architectural sculpture. Represented for more than 20 years by the mythical Denise René gallery and winner of prestigious artistic prizes, he was acclaimed by some of the greatest creators and art critics of his time. Precursor of the Monumenta’s at the Grand Palais with the exhibition of his monumental fountains (9 m high for 16 long), that he made with Saint-Gobain (Glass and industrial materials company), he has raised more than 40 monumental sculptures throughout France, one being the highest iron sculpture in Europe, “Liberté“ (Liberty), that is 20 meters high (at Fontenay-sous-bois). His lifetime work was the object of a retrospective in 1975 at the Paris Museum of Modern Arts, he represented Argentina at the Venice biennial of 1982, and won the academy of fine arts prize in 2009.

Artworks

Aube H.250cm Aube H.250cmFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

AUBE  H.80cm AUBE H.80cmFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

LES DYNAMIQUES N°3 Série « Les Dynamiques » LES DYNAMIQUES N°3 Série « Les Dynamiques »FRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

LIBERTY FONTENAY H. 120cm LIBERTY FONTENAY H. 120cmFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

DYNAMIC COLLAGE (BLUE & OCHRE) DYNAMIC COLLAGE (BLUE & OCHRE)FRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

STRUCTURE DYNAMIQUE ACTION CONSTANTE STRUCTURE DYNAMIQUE ACTION CONSTANTEFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

DYNAMIC COLLAGE DEVELOPABLE ARCHITECTURE DYNAMIC COLLAGE DEVELOPABLE ARCHITECTUREFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

OBÉLISQUE DÉSINTÉGRÉ OBÉLISQUE DÉSINTÉGRÉFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

TRIBUTE TO THE CASTEL FIORENTINO WHERE FRIEDÉRIC II DIED TRIBUTE TO THE CASTEL FIORENTINO WHERE FRIEDÉRIC II DIEDFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

TRIBUTE TO SPEED IN SPACE TRIBUTE TO SPEED IN SPACEFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

DROITE-COURBE DROITE-COURBEFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

DIALOGUE DE TOURS H.150cm DIALOGUE DE TOURS H.150cmFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

HOMMAGE À BRUNELLESCHI NAVIRE SPATIAL N°5 – SAARBRUCKEN HOMMAGE À BRUNELLESCHI NAVIRE SPATIAL N°5 – SAARBRUCKENFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

HOMMAGE À NICCOLO FONTANA TARTAGLIA H.230cm HOMMAGE À NICCOLO FONTANA TARTAGLIA H.230cmFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

BUREAU BFCE BUREAU BFCEFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

HOMMAGE À NICCOLO FONTANA TARTAGLIA HOMMAGE À NICCOLO FONTANA TARTAGLIAFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

ESPACE OUVERTE ESPACE OUVERTEFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

LIBERTÉ 150CM LIBERTÉ 150CMFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

Université H.3M Université H.3MFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

El dia y todas cosas en su propia eterna oscuridad El dia y todas cosas en su propia eterna oscuridadFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

HOMMAGE À FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE HOMMAGE À FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHEFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

DIALOGUE DE TOURS H.4M DIALOGUE DE TOURS H.4MFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

STRUCTURE DYNAMIQUE – PETIT THÉATRE STRUCTURE DYNAMIQUE – PETIT THÉATREFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

COMPOSITION ARCHITECTURALE – HOMMAGE À EMPÉDOCLE COMPOSITION ARCHITECTURALE – HOMMAGE À EMPÉDOCLEFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

FONTAINE FONTAINEFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

HOMMAGE À HOMÈRE – 74cm HOMMAGE À HOMÈRE – 74cmFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

VILLEMIN – H. 150 cm VILLEMIN – H. 150 cmFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

TABLE BASSE – CITÉ AVENIR TABLE BASSE – CITÉ AVENIRFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

LAO TSEU – 1.5M – ACIER LAO TSEU – 1.5M – ACIERFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

SAARBRUCKEN – 3M SAARBRUCKEN – 3MFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

DIALOGUE DE TOURS H236 CM DIALOGUE DE TOURS H236 CMFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

Aube – 50 cm Aube – 50 cmFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

LIBERTÉ H.3M LIBERTÉ H.3MFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

Lao Tseu – H 150cm Lao Tseu – H 150cmFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

Structure Dynamique “Grand Expansion” Structure Dynamique “Grand Expansion”FRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

Table Basse “Forme Espace” Table Basse “Forme Espace”FRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

Structure Développement “Canon effilé” Structure Développement “Canon effilé”FRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

Cercle cube désintégré 25cm Cercle cube désintégré 25cmFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

Saarbrucken “Hommage à l’espace” – 50cm Saarbrucken “Hommage à l’espace” – 50cmFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

Liberté – H. 75cm Liberté – H. 75cmFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

Dialogue de tours “Tour espace Masse” Dialogue de tours “Tour espace Masse”FRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

Structure Développement  “Petit Canon” Structure Développement “Petit Canon”FRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

Aube -150 cm Aube -150 cmFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

Entrelacement “Amour” Entrelacement “Amour”FRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

Buffet BuffetFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

Chaise architecturale Chaise architecturaleFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

Bureau Architectural Bureau ArchitecturalFRANCESCO MARINO DI TEANA

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Biography

Francesco Marino Di Teana is a painter, sculptor, architect, poet and philosopher, who marked the sculpture of 1950s-1960s by developing his theories of the tri-unit logic, which integrates the “void” like an active element of the pictorial and architectural composition.

Born in 1920, in a poor farmer family at a small village of Teana, perched on the hill of the province of Potenza in the Basilicata region in Italy.

When he was 16 years old, the war broke out and Italy allied with Germany. Francesco was sent to Argentina to find his father who abandoned his family a few years ago to make his fortune. In Buenos Aires, his father received him coldly and accepted him only on condition that he had to work to earn a living. He, therefore, started to work at the construction site as builder at the beginning and then became the foreman. At the same time, he passed the evening classes in mechanics and polytechnic at National School of Salguero where he graduated with a degree in architecture. He then successfully passed the challenging entrance examinations of Ernesto de la Carcova Fine Arts School. However, his father could not stand the idea of stopping works and kicked him out. Even if living on the street, Marino di Teana attended every course and worked to live in the evening. Finally, he graduated from the school with top marks of degree “Premio Mittre”, equivalent to the Prix de Rome. Although he was awarded a professorship and chair at University, he decided to go back to Europe in 1952, thanks to the scholarship offered by French Embassy in Argentina, to follow his own path but not a solid one.

He firstly passed through Santiago de Compostela and then decided to visit Spain, and finally settled in Paris in 1953. Without a penny, Marino Di Teana slept at public gardens, as the one next to the Rodin Museum, and warmed him up at Fine Art School, located on Bonaparte Street ( Rue Bonaparte ). He made ends meet by doing some odd jobs, like renovating apartments, painting the ceiling and making furniture. But without working paper, he couldn’t get properly paid. Thanks to Georges Guillot, a decorator, for whom he made some shop mannequins in a small studio on the Passy Street ( Rue de Passy).

It was in this period when he took the courses of Le Corbusier at Sèvres-Babylone and met the artists and intellectuals of St Germain-des-Près quarter. But nobody in the Fine Arts School was interested in the abstract sculptures that he began to create. With the insistence of Huguette Séjournet, a young painter, he obtained a job as decorator for her house, who then became his wife and introduced him to a prestigious gallery of Denise René and presented his first sculptures.

He showed him his strange small models, gathering in a shoe-box, which attracted instantly Denise René’s eyes. Thereafter, he organized several personal exhibitions for Marino Di Teana and put him alongside those renowned artists, such as Vasarely, Jesús-Rafael Soto, Julio Le Parc, Sonia Delaunay, François Morellet, Carlos Cruz-Díez and Richard Mortensen.

Marino di Teana always went out with many artists like Yaacov Agam, Jean Arp, Jean Tinguely, Jean Dubuf­fet, César and Luis Tomasello, yet he was fascinated much more by architecture than by the art world.

By conceiving his theory “tri-unit” of “active void” that journalist Harry Belley regards as one of the most important discoveries of sculpture in the twentieth century, he put the space and void, the mass and form as well in the same important place.

He thus developed the sculptures, and conceived his the esthetic structures, which could be transformed as architectural buildings, the “architectural sculptures”.

His keen interest in the relationship between the architecture and the sculpture has taken him to a major international competition, entitled “Sculpture for the Factory” which is launched by enterprise Saint Gobain in 1961. Faced with hundreds of competitors, he won first prize with the sculpture “Conquest of space”, nearly three meters long; the jury consisted of writer Michel Chastel, sculptor Alberto Giacometti, architect Grégoire, painter Poliakoff, professor in Aesthetics Étienne Souriau, painter and art critic Michel Seuphor and sculptor Zadkine.

This pivotal event brought him fame. His work was acknowledged in press. He was hence supported by some important artists and critics and received the enterprise sponsorship in the following year for creating a set of 8 monumental glass fountains at Grand Palais in Paris “Clarit Saint Gobain” ( 7 meters high and more than 16 meters long) for the exhibition “Contemporary Art”, and then a wall frieze, two-meter high and eight-meter long, for the Saint Gobain Chantereine’s factory.

In 1963, he left central Paris and moved to the suburbs of Périgny-sur-Yerres, in a large workshop with forgery where he lived and worked until the end of his life.

He created his architectural sculptures, regularly named in honor of great architects, such as Imhotep, Le corbusier, Pier Luigi Nervi and the others. According to numerous models that he had already made, Marino Di Teana thereafter carried out about fifty public monumental sculptures in France and in Europe ( Germany, Italy …) Over 40 sculptures were installed between the 1960s and 1970s, and the most impressive one remained today is the “Liberté (Liberty)” at Fontenay-sous-Bois of Val de Marne, which is the largest corten steel sculpture in Europe, 21 meters high and 100 tons weight. Self-supporting, this sculpture was constructed in a manner allowing it to resist the winds of up to 250 km/h.

In the 1970s, he met André Ramel, an industrialist who was famous for its know-how of unique pieces (such as luxury cars and artworks) , and opened his door to him. Marino Di Teana therefore discovered the technique of using stainless steel and hence created a number of pieces of furniture according to his lead and zinc models, such as the desks for the entrance of BFCE and for private collectors, or the sets of furniture designed in the 1950s. These works, unknown to the public, are always marked by the architectural composition, which emphasized the constant researches of artist for establishing the visual and formal conceptions, in all the creation areas: sculpture, painting, as well design.

The mid-1970s was characterized by the important exhibitions. In 1974, his first exhibition was held at Braux Sainte-Cohière Commune in the Marne department in northeastern France, then artist was put in the spotlight between 1975 and 1976 for a traveling exhibition at Saint Etienne, Reims, Montbéliard, and a retrospective at Modern Art Museum in Paris.

His international reputation progressively grew. And his Italian origins were also claimed while the twinning arrangement between Périgny et Teana, meanwhile, the installation of many monumental sculptures in his hometown. Argentina, his adoptive country where he gained his artistic training, also requested him to present it during the 40th Venice Biennale in 1982. He was given a diploma of honor of Plastic Artists. In 1987, author Tomas Alva Negri devoted him a weighty monograph; in the same year, artist traveled to Germany for his new retrospective at Saarland Museum in Saarbrücken.

In France, Galerie Patrice Carlhian (Patrice Carlhian Gallery) presented his works at its space, and Artcurial Auction House (a major auction house dedicated to modern and contemporary art today) organized several exhibitions for him as well. He participated in a lot of television projects with Art France and Antenne 2, even Patrice Carlhian made a short documentary footage, especially for his work at Fontenay-sous-bois, “ Le Chant du Corten( The Song of Corten)”.

In 1997, he was invited to represent France at the International Symposium of Arts and Sciences of Seoul in South Korea, and then exhibited in Prague in 1999. In 2008, his new monumental sculptures were installed at Teana. The following year, in 2009, he became guest of honor at the International Sculpture Triennial of Poznań in Poland.

Died on January 1st, 2012, Francesco Marino Di Teana left behind meaningful artistic heritage: numerous sculptures, which are preserved in his workshop or dispersed at collectors’ homes; as well models, plans, writing documents, reliefs, bronzes, jewelry, medals, drawings, paintings, furniture and architectural projects. Marino Di Teana Association, represented by artist’s son Nicolas Marino Di Teana who has worked by his father’s side for more than ten years, defends promotion and safeguards the works of Marino Di Teana.

Today, the Association still continues distributing artist’s rich but still little-known creation and archives all his works from the smallest models to the monumental pieces. In 2019, the first Catalogue Raisonné of artist is published by Éditions Loft, in partnership with Nicolas Marino, assembles all sculptural works of artist between 1948 and 2012.

Career

Individual Exhibitions

1960
Denise René Galley, Paris, France

1967
Museum of Fine Arts, La Chaux de Fond, Swiss
Sculptures-Structures,Denise René Galley, Paris, France

1968
Exhibition of jewellery for the Cardin collection,Espace Pierre Cardin, Paris, France

1969
Culture House of Orleans, Orleans, France

1972
Cultural Center of Val d’Yerres, France

1974
Braux Sainte Cohière Chateau, Champagne, France

1975
Attali Gallery, Paris, France
Culture House of Saint-Etienne, France
Fine Arts Museum of St Denis of Reims, Champagne, France

1976
Modern Art Museum of Paris, retrospective exhibition, France
Maison des Arts et des Loisirs, Monbéliard, France

1978
Art Actuel Gallery, Nancy, France

1980
Culture House of Dreux, Dreux, France

1981
Fine Arts Museum of Pau, Pau, France

1982
Biennale of Venice, Italy
Giebel Gallery, Saarlouis, Germany

1987
Moderne Gallery - National Saarland Museum, Saarbrücken, Germany

1988
Carlhian Gallery, Paris, France
Sculptures 1960-1987, Retrospective exhibition, Artcurial Gallery, Paris, France

1989
Artcurial Gallery, Paris, France.
Works From 1952 to Nowadays, Carlhian Gallery, Paris, France.

1990
Art and History Museum, Neuchâtel, Swiss

1991
Sculptures from 1953 to 1964, Artcurial Gallery, Paris, France
Di Teana - A Painter, Carlhian Gallery, Paris, France

1992
FIAC, One Man Show by Carlhian Gallery, Grand Palais, Paris, France
Imagination of Marino Di Teana, Brive-la-Gaillarde, France
Di Teana - Painter and Sculptor, Carlhian Gallery, Paris, France

1993
Jean-Jacques Dutko Gallery, Paris, France

1994
Homage to Frederic II Hohenstauffen, University of Bari, Italy

1995
Exhibition with James Pichette, Pornichet, France

2004
Collégiale St Pierre Le Puellier Orléans, France

2005
Grand Théatre of Angers, Angers, France
Exhibition in Volklingen, Saarland, Germany


Personal exhibitions and important projects since the creation of the Association MDT

2006
TRYPITIQUE, monumental sculptures exhibition in Angers, Angers, France

2007
Michèle Broutta Gallery - One man Show Salon Art Paris, Grand Palais, Paris.
Sculpture Biennale of Yerres, France
Salon Art-Elysées - FIAC, Michèle Broutta Gallery, Paris, France

2008
Collection of FRAC, Orleans, France.
Collection of Satoru Sato Museum, Tome city, Japan
Chateau of Vaumarcus, Neuchâtel, Swiss
Jonas Gallery, Neuchâtel, Swiss

2009
Krings-Ernst Gallery, Cologne, Germany
Project of 4 monumental sculptures for Teana, Potenza, Italy
The Palace of Fontainebleau, France
INTERNATIONAL SCULPTURE TRIENNIAL of Poznan, Poland

2010
Fine Arts Museum of Cambrai, France.

2015
Retrospective exhibition at Galerie LOFT, Paris, France

2017
Marino di Teana, forgeron de l’espace , Citadelle de Sisteron, Alpes de Haute-Provence, France

2019
Art Paris 2019 - One Man show by Galerie LOFT, Grand Palais, Paris, France

2020
Exposition at Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy