Artists

Marzia Colonna (b. 1951)

Marzia Colonna was born in Pisa and from the age of twelve studied at the city's Instituto Statale d'Arte. She went on to study at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence, before moving to the U.K. in 1970.

Colonna's early work concentrated on drawing and on making small sculptures in clay and wax. In 1978 she held her first solo exhibition at the Galleria Macchi in Pisa, and the following year she held her first solo U.K. show at Campbell and Franks in London. She has since exhibited regularly in the U.K. and elsewhere in Europe.

Her work is to be found in collections in the U.K. and elsewhere in Europe, in the United States and Australasia. In 2003 Salisbury Cathedral purchased Crucifix and in 2005 Colonna completed a statue of St Aldhelm for Sherborne Abbey to commemorate the 1300th anniversary of its foundation.

Roger Berthoud writes of her work, 'Her sculpture is based on the human form, which she uses to express what we all share as human beings. It fascinates her that wherever we come from, whatever our race or religion, we feel the same basic needs and desires. She sees the body as the vessel of human emotion, touching in its combination of fragility and strength. Many of her bronzes, and indeed of her paper sculptures, reveal the tenderness with which she views her fellow human beings' (see exhibition catalogue, Colour + form, sculpture + collage: Marzia Colonna, Bath, Six Chapel Row Contemporary Art, 2002).

Since 1985 Colonna has lived and worked in West Dorset.

Select Bibliography

Exhibition catalogue, Marzia Colonna, Hart Gallery, October, 2006.
Exhibition catalogue, Marzia Colonna, London, Hart Gallery, 2004.
A Elliott, Bleep - the Eric and Jean Cass Collection, Surrey 2003.
Exhibition catalogue, In Praise of Trees, Salisbury Festival, 2002.
Exhibition catalogue, Colour + form, sculpture + collage: Marzia Colonna, Bath, Six Chapel Row Contemporary Art, 2002.
Exhibition catalogue, Metamorphosis, London, Grosvenor Gallery, 1999.