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Thumbnail-size images of copyrighted artworks are displayed under fair use, in accordance with guidelines recommended by the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts, published by the College Art Association in February 2015.
Senza titolo (Untitled)
Jannis Kounellis (Italian (born in Greece), 1936–2017)
1997
Medium/Technique
Steel beam with two leather shoes
Dimensions
82 11/16 x 4 5/16 x 3 9/16 inches (210 x 11 x 9 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Joyce Linde in loving memory of Edward H. Linde
Accession Number2011.95
CollectionsEurope, Contemporary Art
ClassificationsSculpture
Kounellis transforms ordinary objects into poetic metaphors of loss and searching. This I-beam pressed into his own shoes can be read in numerous ways: as a crucifixion, a symbol of abandonment and reconstruction, and most powerfully, as an abstracted self-portrait. Kounellis breaks down boundaries between art and life, fusing materials and meaning.
ProvenanceKoenig Gallery, Germany; December 2007, sold by Koenig to Edward and Joyce Linde, Weston, MA at the Basel Art Fair; 2011, gift of Joyce Linde to the MFA. (Accession date: March 23, 2011)