Mirko Basaldella (28 September 1910 – 24 November 1969) was an Italian sculptor and painter.

Early life and education

Mirko was born in

Udine Udine ( ; ; ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Carnic Alps. It is the capital of the Province of Udine, Regional decentralization entity ...

, Italy on September 28, 1910, the second of three brothers (

Dino Dino may refer to: Prefix * dino-, a common prefix in taxonomy, meaning "terrible", "formidable" **Dinosaur ** Dinosaurus People * Dino (given name), a masculine given name and a nickname * Dino (surname), a surname found in Albania and Turkey ...

was the eldest, and

Afro The afro is a hair style created by combing out natural growth of afro-textured hair, or specifically styled with chemical curling products by individuals with naturally curly or straight hair.Garland, Phyl"Is The Afro On Its Way Out?" '' Ebo ...

the youngest). He grew up in a family of artists: his father Leo (1886 – 1918) was a painter and decorator, and since youth Mirko and his brothers showed a precocious artistic talent. Mirko studied at the

Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia The (English: Academy of Fine Arts of Venice) is a public tertiary academy of art in Venice, Italy. History The Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia was founded on 24 September 1750; the statute dates from 1756. The first director was Giovann ...

and at the

Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze The Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze () is an instructional art academy in Florence, in Tuscany, in central Italy. It was founded by Cosimo I de' Medici in 1563, under the influence of Giorgio Vasari. Michelangelo, Benvenuto Cellini and ...

; in 1928, he first exhibited his work in Udine, alongside the paintings of his two brothers. Dino, Mirko and Afro later attended the Institute of Applied Arts in

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

, where they studied under the sculptor

Arturo Martini Arturo Martini (1889–1947) was a leading Italian sculptor between World War I and II. He moved between a very vigorous (almost ancient Roman) classicism and modernism. He was associated with public sculpture in fascist Italy, but later renoun ...

.Basaldella, Mirko
''Treccani''. Retrieved 2021-05-02.

Career

In 1934, Mirko moved to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, where he held his first solo exhibition in 1936 at the Galleria della Cometa. In the same year he exhibited his work at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

, together with other artists associated with the so-called ''

Scuola Romana Scuola romana or Scuola di via Cavour was a 20th-century art movement defined by a group of painters within Expressionism and active in Rome between 1928 and 1945, and with a second phase in the mid-1950s. Birth of the movement In November 192 ...

'' (including Giuseppe Capogrossi, Alberto Ziveri,

Guglielmo Janni Guglielmo Janni (1892–1958) was an Italian painter belonging to the modern movement of the ''Scuola romana (Roman School)''. Biography Son of a renowned Roman family – his father Giuseppe was a lawyer and his mother Teresa Belli was the niece ...

and

Renato Guttuso Aldo Renato Guttuso (26 December 1911 – 18 January 1987) was an Italian painter and politician. He is considered to be among the most important Italian artists of the 20th century and is among the key figures of Italian expressionism. His art i ...

). In 1955, Mirko won the first prize for sculpture at the

São Paulo Art Biennial The São Paulo Art Biennial ( Portuguese: ''Bienal de São Paulo'') was founded in 1951 and has been held every two years since. It is the second oldest art biennial in the world after the Venice Biennale (in existence since 1895), which serves as ...

. In 1957, he moved to

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

where

Josep Lluís Sert Josep Lluís Sert i López (; 1 July 190215 March 1983) was a Catalan architect and city planner established in the USA after 1939. Biography Born in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, Sert showed keen interest in the works of his uncle, the painte ...

appointed him to direct the Design Workshop at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

; Mirko stayed there until 1963, when he joined Eduard Sekler and Robert Gardner in the newly-created Department of Visual and Environmental Studies. In 1962, he was elected a member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

Death and legacy

He died in Cambridge on November 24, 1969.Waroff, Deborah R. (November 26, 1969)
Mirko Basaldella, Director Of Design Workshop, Dies
''

The Harvard Crimson ''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper at Harvard University, an Ivy League university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The newspaper was founded in 1873, and is run entirely by Harvard College undergraduate students. His ...

''. Retrieved February 6, 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Basaldella, Mirko 1910 births 1969 deaths 20th-century Italian painters 20th-century Italian male artists Italian male painters Artists from Udine Italian contemporary artists Italian sculptors