Short outlines about the culture of marble

Since time begun the history and the renown of Carrara have been linked to its precious mineral. Since Roman age marble has been quarried and also roughly worked: in those days slaves made capitals, columns and small handiworks (some of them are now kept at The Marble Museum) directly in the quarry.

In the XV century an out-and-out guild was founded: the “Ars Marmoris” . In time Carrara became an attraction-centre for famous artists: Giovanni Pisano was the first and Michelangelo the best-known; but also Bandinelli went there from Florence and the famous Spanish sculptor Ordonez and a century later than these artists, also Bernini arrived and worked in Carrara.

The Academy of Art, founded in 1768 by the duchess Maria Teresa Cybo Malaspina, contributed to the growth of a large group of good sculptor from Carrara (i.e. Tenerani, Triscornia, Bienamè, to mention the best-known) and formalized the transmission of artistic traditions, which until then had been anyway improved by the innumerable artisan workshops of the town. At the end of XIX century there were more than one hundred of them and they became a distinctive feature of the atmosphere of Carrara: indeed these workshops fitted in with the urban, social, economic and cultural reality of the town. A century later the art of working marble lost its artistic connotation and the workshops, supplied with bulky and noisy machines, moved from the centre to the coastline and the harbour. Even if the culture of marble undertook then the way to industrialization, it also broadened its range of action to design experimentation and building innovations

Moreover the link with sculpture is still alive today thanks to the events that each summer liven the street of the centre up: the International Biennial of Sculpture , an exposition of famous artists both Italian and foreigner; the Symposium, an open-air workshop where it's possible to admire the sculptors' skill and effort right while they are working. Each summer the ancient tradition of Lizzatura is relived: it was the spectacular system for carrying marble from the mountain to the plain and it was used since Roman Age until the half of XX century. The “Lizza” was a kind of big woody sledge: it was loaded with blocks of marble, tied with ropes and wire, let down along the inclined plane by making it slide on a series of soaped wood-sleepers (named “parati”). The technique of Lizzatura was slowly dropped and replaced with the advent of the “marmifera” railway at the end of XIX century and later with the spread of lorries.

XTHE MARBLES OF CARRARA

The marbles of Carrara, grouped in seven major kinds, are famous all over the world thanks the monochromic qualities of “Bianco”, “Statuario” and “Venato” .

“Bianco” of Carrara has very few impurities, which don't affect its natural colour: the material of these slabs has a white-pearly background upon which stand out small grey- bluish patches or veins.

“Statuario” , completely white and fine grained, is the most valued and was used since Roman Age to make sculptures because its particular crystalline structure makes it easy to be carved; it's very rare all over the world and even many ancient basins in the Apuane Alps are by now worked out.

“Venato” is a common marble, characterized by its grey veins above the white or white-grey background.

XTHE INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM OF SCULPTURE

The “Sculpturing outdoor” Symposium is a great attraction, the traditional summer appointment which takes place every odd year in the squares of the historical centre of Carrara and in the open-air spaces of Marina on the coast by the sea. During the Symposium artists draw inspiration extemporarily and sculpture “live”, carving their works from marble according to the models: during the work sculptors are enveloped by enchanting clouds of marble dust, surrounded by the rumble of pneumatic hammers.
After a break, the local administration reintroduced the Symposium in 1995: that edition achieved a great success both with critics and the public alike; a success renewed in '97 and '99 that has confirmed the appreciation of an event, which is considered as an important chance to claim the identity and role of Carrara both in Italy and in the world.

XTHE INTERNATIONAL BIENNALS OF SCULPTURE

The famous International Biennial of Sculpture is a permanent appointment and art-lovers look forward to visit it; Biennial is one of the most important events in the cultural survey of the town. The edition of year 2000 was dedicated to an international overview of contemporary sculpture, bearing witness of the deep link between the town of Carrara and the artists (there were more than an hundred of them, coming from all over the world) who exposed their works of art. It was an important chance to rediscover the places that Michelangelo visited already in 1497, when he came to choose the marble of Carrara for “La Pietà”: so both the tourist and the art-lover had the chance to admire architectures and routes.
The 10th Biennial of year 2000, entitled “The Primacy of Sculpture. The XX century in Carrara and its environs” achieved a truly international success and it was an out-and-out cultural event, which called to mind the history of a whole century of sculpture. Works of artists as Fontana, Bistolfi, Dazzi, Andreotti, Viani, Pomodoro, Cascella Mitoraj, were exposed for two moths in the many showrooms of the town: the Academy of Art, Palazzo Caselli, the Church of Suffragio, the ex-hospital of San Giacomo and the Park of Padula.

The Biennial of Sculpture was founded in 1957 in order to confirm the role of Carrara as the world capital of marble: this event indeed attracted since its first edition the most important names among the best-level sculptors of the world.

The second edition dated back to 1959 and the third took place from the 14th of July to the 2nd of September 1962: this edition boasted the presence, among the others, of a great artist of the calibre of Aligi Sassu and right in 1962 the participation of a group of sculptors was confirmed and consolidated so that they would take part to the succeeding editions too, as a proof of the importance of this appointment for the artists. Besides Sassu in 1962 many important sculptors took part to the Biennial: Vatteroni, Tognini, Martini, Dunchi, Bodini, Binelli, Negri.

The fifth edition (July-August 1967) saw the participation of 90 sculptors coming from 15 different nations: among them Bodini, Cascella; Guadagnucci, Fabbri, Koper, Martini, Poncet, Ruzic, Signori, Tognini, Vangi. The seventh Biennial took place in 1973 between July and August: there were outstanding presences such as De Chirico and Manzù and also as Armitage, Martini, Pomodoro, Koper, Signori, Telara, Tognini, Triglia, Vangi, Viani, Cascella, Cardenas, Fabbri, Guadagnucci.