Italian sculptors and sacred art at the Venice Biennali 1948-1968

The Biennali of Venice immediately following World War Two upuntil to the fateful year of 1968 provide a privileged viewpoint for acomplete analysis of the evolution of contemporary Italian sculpture inrelation to the sacred theme. This twenty-year period under analysis isin fact crucial for understanding the role assumed by the Church in anhistorical period so full of significant and radical transformations fromthe political, ideological, social and, therefore, artistic viewpoint.Without doubt the Biennali represent an international showcase parexcellence capable of offering a complete panorama of artistic evolution ata worldwide level: the study and critical analysis of documentary sourcesrelating to the works presented at the Venetian exhibitions offers the possibilityof understanding how, between «realism» and «return to order»,between the «informal» and «abstraction», between «pop» and «optical»,artists develop their sculptural style in relation to the sacred theme.A separate paragraph is dedicated to the sculptor Giacomo Manzùand his difficult but exemplifying relationship with the Holy See, withPope John XXIII in particular: the International Competition of 1947for the Doors of Saint Peter's won by him represents an extremelyimportant event in the artistic panorama of the immediate post-warperiod and constitutes the definitive opening up of the Roman churchto modern art, thanks also to the endorsement of the 1964 Biennalewhich dedicates a personal room to the sculptor with the preparatorysketches for the Porta della Morte.