Ritiro, 1991

  • Mimmo Paladino, Italian, born 1948

Painted bronze and silver, #2/3

  • Overall: 77 1/2 × 16 1/2 × 23 1/4 inches (196.9 × 41.9 × 59.1 cm)

Founders Society Purchase, W. Hawkins Ferry Fund

1992.278

Neo-expressionism was an international movement in the 1980s that brought back a more traditional style and figurative subject matter in both painting and sculpture. Paladino is among the original group in Italy that was coined the “Transavanguardia” by a critic. Transavantgarde artists appropriate images from Italian history and mythology as well as prehistoric, medieval, and primitive art along with Christian and pagan symbols for their subject matter. Paladino incorporates these themes in this sculpture, which is based on the standing figures of the classical world and wears an all-seeing, masklike helmet.

Signed on the back of the base: M. Paladino

Dated, back of base: 1991

The artist

(Sperone Westwater Gallery, New York, New York, USA)

1992-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

Mimmo Paladino, Ritiro, 1991, painted bronze and silver, #2/3. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, W. Hawkins Ferry Fund, 1992.278.