Liechtenstein Museum of Art: Arte Povera

Liechtenstein post issued a set of stamps featuring the art work of some of the most famous artists of Liechtenstein.

Those responsible for Liechtenstein Art Museum made it clear from the outset that the works displayed in their exhibition rooms would not be confined to established artists. Their primary concern is to create new perspectives by exhibiting not only new and, for the Liechtenstein public, sometimes still unknown artists and their work, but also contemporary artistic trends and concepts. There is an especially strong emphasis here on the concept of “Arte povera” (“art by simple means”), a movement among visual artists from Rome and northern Italy in the second half of the 1960s. It is now the case that the most important public collection of work by Arte povera artists is to be found at Liechtenstein Art Museum.

Among the best-known Arte povera artists, who sought to decrease the distance between work and viewer, bridge the gap between art and life and broaden people’s perception by using as artworthy materials everyday objects generally considered worthless, are Alighiero Boetti (1940–1994), Marisa Merz (1931) and Jannis Kounellis (1936).

The commemorative stamps depict first Boetti’s “Normale e anormale” (face value CHF 1.00), an embroidery commissioned by the artist from Afghan women in which the letters of Normale e anormale are distributed over a grid pattern composed of rectangles. The second stamp shows Merz’s “Testa” (face value CHF 2.20), a head crudely modeled from clay, plaster and modelling compound and then painted. Finally, the third stamp (face value CHF 3.60) shows an object by the Greek artist Kounellis fabricated from steel, coal and wire.

Title: Liechtenstein Museum of Art: Arte Povera
Date of Issue: 15 November 2010
Country: Liechtenstein
Denominations: CHF 1,00 – CHF 2,20 – CHF 3,60