In Her Shoes: Marisa Merz and the Arte Povera Movement

In this presentation, I explore the nuanced relationship between Italian artist Marisa Merz (1926-) and the Arte Povera movement. To do so, I will trace the exhibition history of her knitted work Scarpette as it appears in... [ view full abstract ]

In this presentation, I explore the nuanced relationship between Italian artist Marisa Merz (1926-) and the Arte Povera movement. To do so, I will trace the exhibition history of her knitted work Scarpette as it appears in three specific exhibitions, the circumstances of which ultimately challenge her classification as an Arte Povera artist. The themes of gendered space, personal narrative, and feminine labor evident in Merz's exhibitions of Scarpette are closely related to the ideas of early 1970s Italian feminism. However, this relationship has often been under-examined as scholars have focused on Merz’s social associations and use of non-traditional materials as evidence of her involvement with the Arte Povera movement. Yet, Merz’s hand-knit Scarpette have never been discussed in relation to the 1970s feminist embrace of craft and textile arts, a comparison that I will demonstrate separates Merz’s work from that of the Arte Povera movement and argues for a feminist reconsideration of her art and career.