"Interrogation sur l'Art pauvre": Le reazioni francesi all'Arte povera 1969-1981

This study aims to investigate the critical reception of Arte povera in France during the 1970s with a specific intention to shed light on the exchanges, influences, and reciprocal solicitations established between Italian and French artists.The critical reception of Arte povera in France has never been the focus of a systematic study, and the related bibliography has mainly considered the revival occurred during the 1980s. At the same time, the contemporary works of French artists have very rarely been treated with a comparative approach trying to reconsider them in relation to the contemporary international context. During the research, it was possible to discover new clues about the necessity of a comparative analysis between Italian and French art, either to specify the diffusion of Arte Povera in France from the late 1960s, or to reconsider the contemporary artistic approaches of certain French artists in the light of a broader international cultural context.