Frog Pond 1957

Piero Manzoni made ‘Frog Pond’ using oil paint to give an unusual depth. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Manzoni was working in Italy, a country recovering from the devastation of World War II and grappling with questions of national identity and purpose. Manzoni was known for his provocative, conceptual artworks that challenged the traditional notions of art and the artist. In ‘Frog Pond’ the tactile surface and simplistic representation can be seen as a commentary on the consumerism and mass production that defined post-war society. The work is evocative of nature, but the almost brutal application of paint suggests that it is more about materiality than representation, asking what and whom art is for. The green landmass and blue background hint at the environmental concerns that were beginning to emerge during this period. Manzoni pushes us to reconsider our relationship with the natural world.