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Arte Povera

British  
/ ˌarte poˈvera /

noun

  1. a style of minimal art originating in Italy in the late 1960s, making use of cheap and commonly available materials such as stones, newspapers etc

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of Arte Povera

C20: Italian, literally: poor art

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The "Venus of the Rags", a symbol of the Arte Povera movement which counts Pistoletto among its leading members, shows the Roman goddess of love, beauty and fertility standing next to a pile of rags.

From Reuters • Jul. 12, 2023

Gilardi’s carpets culminate a suite of Magazzino’s top-lit galleries containing Arte Povera classics, all of them displaying attitude more than form.

From New York Times • Jun. 30, 2022

Back in 1967, Arte Povera artists in Italy, the radicals of their time, hung out at the Piper Club, a discothèque of, by and for the avant-garde in Turin.

From New York Times • Jun. 30, 2022

In an Arte Povera twist, scores of ordinary purple egg cartons stapled to the back wall provided a “futuristic” spaceship interior, suitable for daydreams arising from a kid’s playroom.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 4, 2022

The Italian artist Michelangelo Pistoletto — a leading member of the Arte Povera movement, which sought to strip art to its essentials — has been known to take sledgehammers to his famous mirror works.

From Washington Post • Jun. 5, 2020