Marino Marini--The Sculpture

Unlike most equestrian statues, which exalt a triumphal figure, the horse-and-rider pieces of Italian sculptor Marino Marini (1901-1980) seek to commemorate ``something tragic, a kind of Twilight of Man,'' in the artist's words. His equestrian studies are rooted in the devastation of his native Tuscany during WW II. Equally affecting are the grisly human figures inspired by fossilized corpses unearthed at Pompeii, victims of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. As Hunter, a Princeton art historian, explains in his thoughtful essay, Marini uses Archaic Greek, Etruscan and Roman motifs to confront the dislocations of the modern world. Also on display in Finn's photographs are Marini's androgynous archangels, eloquent dancers, melancholy jugglers and acrobats, and his probing portrait heads of Igor Stravinsky, Oscar Kokoschka and Mies van der Rohe. This lavish album includes a brief reminiscence by Marini's widow and 168 plates (70 in color). (Apr.)