Di Suvero was born inShanghai, China, to Italian parents, Matilde Millo di Suvero and Vittorio di Suvero (later known as Victor E.)[2][1][3][4] He was one of four children, the eldest beingVictor di Suvero.[2] His father was aU.S. Navyattaché for theItalian government, and the family lived in Shanghai until his father was relocated toTientsin shortly after the birth of the family's last son in 1936.[3]
After graduating from college, di Suvero moved toNew York City in 1957 to begin a career as a sculptor. He worked part-time in construction and began incorporating wood and metal from demolition sites into his work.[1][8]
Di Suvero gained recognition among art critics with his first solo exhibit at theGreen Gallery inManhattan in the fall of 1960. The editor ofArts Magazine wrote, "From now on nothing will be the same. One felt this at di Suvero's show. Here was a body of work at once so ambitious and intelligent, so raw and clean, so noble and accessible, that it must permanently alter our standards of artistic effort."[10]
On March 26, 1960, while working at a construction site, he was involved in a near-fatal elevator accident, resulting in a broken back and severe spinal injuries. Treating physicians initially believed he would be unable to walk again. While in rehabilitation, however, he learned to work with an arc welder, which he used in later pieces. His recovery took four years. By 1965, he was able to walk without assistance. He is one of the 16 artists featured inChronicles of Courage: Very Special Artists, a book that featured the accident and the subsequent effect it had on his health.[1][3][7][8]
di Suvero bought and repaired a broken crane after receiving a National Endowment for the Arts grant, and used it to buildAre Years What? (For Marianne Moore) (1967). This was the first sculpture to be built using a crane in the United States.[5]
Di Suvero protested theVietnam War, and was arrested twice. He left the United States in 1971.[2][13] During his four-year self-exile, he exhibited his works in the Netherlands and Germany, taught at the Università Internazionale dell'Arte, and lived inChalon-sur-Saône, France where he maintained one of his studios on a barge until 1989.[2][4][14] His French barge,Rêve de signes, has since been turned into La Vie des Formes, an atelier for emerging artists, which has been moored atMontceau-les-Mines since 2009.[2][15][16]
In 1975, his sculptures were exhibited in theTuileries Garden in Paris,[10] the first living artist to hold an exhibition there.[17] He later returned to the United States and opened a studio inPetaluma, California in 1975.[14] While the Petaluma studio is still active, di Suvero moved to New York City and opened a studio there.[13][14]
In 1976, theWhitney Museum of American Art in Manhattan housed a retrospective exhibition of di Suvero's smaller structures, while the city of New York exhibited some of his larger sculptures all around town.[10] It was the first citywide exhibition in the United States.[5] His 1966 sculpture,Praise for Elohim Adonai, was erected in front of theSeagram Building. In January 2024, the work was permanently installed adjacent to David Chipperfield's East Building for theSaint Louis Art Museum.
He founded the Athena Foundation in 1977 andSocrates Sculpture Park in 1986, both of which function to assist artists.[2][8] In 2019, his tallest piece,E=MC 2, was moved from France to theStorm King Art Center in upstate New York.[17][18]
Di Suvero lives in California with his wife Heidi Holst.[19] He was previously married to Kate D. Levin, with whom he has a daughter .[20][21] Levin, a formerCity College of New York teacher, served as Commissioner of theNew York City Department of Cultural Affairs from 2002 to 2013, and has worked in theEd Koch andMichael Bloomberg administrations.[22] Di Suvero was previously married to architect Maria Teresa Caparrotta, whom he met while living in Italy, but later divorced.[20]
Di Suvero broke his back in 1960 while working a construction job in New York, and was paralyzed from the hips down.[5] In 2018, he burned himself while welding and the leg had to be removed.[23]
His early works were large outdoor pieces that incorporated wooden timbers from demolition buildings, tires, scrap metal, and structural steel. This exploration has transformed over time into a focus on H-beams and heavy steel plates. Many of the pieces contain sections that are allowed to swing and rotate giving the overall forms a considerable degree of motion. He prides himself on his hands-on approach to the fabrication and installation of his work. Di Suvero pioneered the use of a crane as a sculptor's working tool.[24]
His style is associated with theabstract expressionism movement but directly evokes the spirit of the Russian post-revolutionconstructivism. Constructivism is strongly associated with concepts of a utopian socialist reconstruction but came crashing down when the Stalin and Hitler empires failed. Di Suvero is the first artist post-war to revive the constructivist movement. The sculptures can be touched, and they are resistant enough to be climbed on.[10]
Di Suvero's sculptures and career were the subjects of the 1977 film,North Star: Mark di Suvero. The film was produced by François De Menil and by art historianBarbara Rose, and it featured music composed byPhilip Glass.[45][5] The film was released as a DVD in 2012.[46]
Some critics deny the novelty of di Suvero's art, arguing he just inflated an established concept to greater dimensions. In 1975,William Rubin argued he merely vulgarized the style ofabstract expressionism set forth byWillem de Kooning andFranz Kline.[10] WhenPax Jerusalemme was installed in a prominent spot in front of theLegion of Honor in 2000, Kenneth Baker in theSan Francisco Chronicle dismissed it as "mediocre."[48] But remarking on the installation of the artist's colossalE=MC 2 at theStorm King Art Center, Jason Farago in theNew York Times wrote that di Suvero "understands better than almost any artist the distinction between size and scale—and this serene work, breathing easy in Storm King's largest field, feels as approachable as a family member."[49]
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