Campus Sculpture Tour

Pietro Consagra

BUCO SENZA PRETESE, 1960
37 x 26 ¼ x 4 inches
Blackened walnut, brass, white pigment
Gift of George S. Rosborough Jr. ’40

Highly textured and highly abstracted, Buco Senza Pretese exudes a strange energy in the Bucksbaum Rotunda. An almost eerie creation of wood and brass, Buco Senza Pretese explores the tension of texture and form. Loosely translated, the title means “a hole without pretensions”—a sign of the desired humility of Consagra’s piece. The planks that form the background are roughly halved, with a clear gap between them. One is predominantly covered with chunkily-applied white pigment; the other is darkened to a rich brown hue. Gouged and pockmarked, Consagra’s planks of wood form an imperfect background for his brass sheets. Though vaguely flat, the brass also contains elements of texture: it ripples at its welds, it protrudes at angles, it extends to the base in sharp lines as well as up and off of the piece. Fixed but gently moving away from the wood, the brass components slide away from their anchor. Holes, cracks, and contours intrude upon Buco Senza Pretese, allowing the display space and the wooden background to trickle into the viewing. And perhaps here we see the hole to which the title refers—Consagra slyly gives his piece many layers, and in doing so, an element of transparency. Consagra skillfully manages a balance between heavy geometrics and the erosion of space. In this way, Buco Senza Pretese, though built out of several planes, takes on a humble quality—it interrupts its location, as well as its own layers.

About the Artist: Pietro Consagra was born in 1920, in Mazaro del Vallo, Italy. Consagra received his formal education at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Palermo (1941-44). After finishing his studies, he moved to Rome; there, he found a likeminded community of artists, and with them founded the collective FORMA in 1947. FORMA, influenced by the politics of postwar Europe, attempted to explore the limits of shape and power. Its manifesto proclaims, “The terms Marxism and formalism are not irreconcilable.” Throughout his career, Consagra illustrated his commitment to collectivity and community, founding other artists’ groups and producing many sculptures for public commission. His work is owned by New York’s Museum of Modern Art, The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice.

Essay by Meredith Ibey ’00 and Christine Hancock ‘06
Updated 2006