Senza titolo 2008

This ‘Untitled’ artwork was made by Enzo Cucchi, an Italian artist associated with the Transavantgarde movement, which emerged in the late 1970s. The sculpture combines seemingly disparate elements - a wolf, a human-like figure and a semi-circular form adorned with skulls. The skulls, daubed with a vibrant blue, stand out against the grey of the other elements. The use of skulls as motifs is a long standing tradition in European art. Cucchi’s Transavantgarde style rejected the conceptual and minimalist art of the 1970s, embracing a return to figuration and expressive, often mythical, imagery. Born after the Second World War, in 1949, Cucchi experienced the social unrest in Italy and his works, often made in the styles of earlier movements, reflects anxieties about national identity. To fully understand this, and other pieces of art, we need to delve into the socio-political context in which they were created, considering the prevailing cultural debates and anxieties of the time.