Hyper-Mannerism (Anachronism)

also: Anachronism · La Nuova Maniera · Pittura colta

style movement c. 1980-present Italy Europe

Hyper-Mannerism, or Anachronism, is a small, deliberately old-fashioned current in contemporary painting that revives the artifice of sixteenth-century Mannerism and the polish of classical technique. It is chiefly identified with the Italian painter Carlo Maria Mariani (1931-2021), whose meticulously finished allegories and idealized nudes - The Left Handed Painter (1982) among them - were so unapologetically anachronistic that they were grouped with pittura colta ('cultivated painting') and la Nuova Maniera ('the New Style') of the 1980s. The point of the anachronism is critical: by painting as if the old masters were still possible, Mariani exposed the relativity of every style. Widely regarded as a forerunner of postmodern painting, he shows that revival can be a contemporary gesture rather than mere pastiche. WikiArt files his work under the style label 'Hyper-Mannerism (Anachronism)'.

The Tribuna of the Uffizi (Zoffany)
The Tribuna of the Uffizi (Zoffany)Public domain (credit: Johann Zoffany) · source

Defining characteristics

  • Faultless Old Master-like finish: refined Renaissance technique on smooth, seamless surfaces
  • Neoclassical allegory and idealized, classically proportioned figures and nudes
  • Deliberate anachronism: contemporary subjects staged in a Renaissance idiom
  • Mannerist artificiality - elegant, serpentine poses and self-conscious grace
  • Cool, controlled tonality and sculptural modelling rather than expressive brushwork

Key figures

  • Carlo Maria Mariani (1931-2021) — Italian painter whose anachronistic neoclassical allegories define the style (The Left Handed Painter, 1982)

Example works

  • The Left Handed Painter — Carlo Maria Mariani (1982)
  • Composition I — Carlo Maria Mariani (1989)

Sources

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