Texts by Germano Celant and Flavia Frigeri
Edited by Honey Luard
Designed by Dan Solbach Studio
300 x 210 mm, hardback
104 pages, 39 colour and 11 black and white illustrations
ISBN 978-1-910844-14-4
Published by White Cube, May 2017
Limited edition of 500 copies

The last book to be published during Jannis Kounellis’ life, this catalogue is a record of the exhibition ‘Jannis Kounellis’, at White Cube Mason’s Yard, London in the autumn of 2016.

Focusing on Kounellis’ very first works, the ‘Alfabeto’ series, the exhibition included both works on paper and paintings. The selection was one of the most in-depth presentations to date of this historical body of work, offering a review of Kounellis’ artistic development through a reconsideration of these early masterpieces.

Alongside reproductions of the works, installation photography showing the staggered hang conceived in collaboration with the artist as well as archival photographs, is an essay by the acclaimed Italian art historian, critic and curator, Germano Celant, who coined the term ‘Arte Povera’ in 1967 and wrote many of the key texts on the subject. A newly commissioned essay by curator and academic Flavia Frigeri, provides an equally insightful companion text that considers the specific cultural and political context that gave rise to these works.

Germano Celant, renowned art historian and theoretician, was internationally acknowledged for his theories on Arte Povera. The author of more than one hundred publications he curated hundreds of exhibitions in the most prominent international museums and institutions worldwide. 

Flavia Frigeri is a Teaching Fellow in the History of Art department at University College London. Between 2011 and 2016 she was a Curator of International Art at Tate Modern, London.