José Fioravanti (August 4, 1896 – October 10, 1977) was a prolific Argentine sculptor known for the many civic monuments he created.

Life and work

Fioravanti was born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

in 1896. He developed a very early interest in

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

, and learned the art in the city's numerous private

atelier An atelier () is the private workshop or studio of a professional artist in the fine or decorative arts or an architect, where a principal master and a number of assistants, students, and apprentices can work together producing fine art or ...

s. The self-taught sculptor first exhibited in 1912 at that year's National

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon ( ...

, winning the First Prize in his category during the 1919 National Salon for his work, ''My Sister María''. His work during the next several years consisted mainly of Realist

portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this ...

busts created by

casting Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a ''casting'', which is ejecte ...

, notably that of former President

José Figueroa Alcorta José María Cornelio Figueroa Alcorta (November 20, 1860 – December 27, 1931) was an Argentine lawyer and politician, who managed to be the only person to head the three powers of the State: Vice President of the Nation (President of the ...

for its placement over the latter's La Recoleta Cemetery crypt. He traveled in

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from 1924 to 1927 and adopted the method of direct carving, without the use of

maquette A ''maquette'' (French word for scale model, sometimes referred to by the Italian names ''plastico'' or ''modello'') is a scale model or rough draft of an unfinished sculpture. An equivalent term is ''bozzetto'', from the Italian word for "sketc ...

s. Fioravanti exhibited at the

Museum of Modern Art, Madrid The Museum of Modern Art (''Museo de Arte Moderno'' or ''M.A.M.'') was the Spanish national museum dedicated to 19th- and 20th-century painting. It was set up in 1894. It closed in 1971, when its 19th-century collections were merged into those of ...

, and in the

Luxembourg Museum Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...

, in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

He then secured two solo exhibitions in Buenos Aires, including a 1928 Friend of the Arts event inaugurated by President Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear, who commissioned Fioravanti to create decorative

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

s for the

Casa Rosada The ''Casa Rosada'' (, eng, Pink House) is the office of the president of Argentina. The palatial mansion is known officially as ''Casa de Gobierno'' ("House of Government" or "Government House"). Normally, the president lives at the Quinta de ...

's interiors. Fioravanti returned to Paris in 1929. He earned increasing renown in the French capital, and in 1934 was honored with a solo exhibition at the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume. Returning to Argentina in 1935, Fioravanti was appointed Professor at the

College of Fine Arts The School of Fine Arts or College of Fine Arts is the official name or part of the name of several schools of fine arts, often as an academic part of a larger university. These include: The Americas North America *Alabama School of Fin ...

. His portrait of his wife, painter Ludmilla Feodorovna (''Woman with Book''), earned him a gold medal at the 1936 National Salon. Establishing an atelier in seaside La Lucila del Mar, he created numerous landmark monuments in the ensuing years, including memorials in Buenos Aires to Presidents Nicolás Avellaneda and Roque Sáenz Peña (1935–36),

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

n General

Simón Bolívar Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (24 July 1783 – 17 December 1830) was a Venezuelan military and political leader who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and B ...

(1942), U.S. President

Franklin Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

, as well as two

sea lion Sea lions are pinnipeds characterized by external ear flaps, long foreflippers, the ability to walk on all fours, short and thick hair, and a big chest and belly. Together with the fur seals, they make up the family Otariidae, eared seals. ...

effigies guarding an esplanade in

Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" is a sh ...

(1941), a memorial in

Montevideo Montevideo () is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . Montevideo is situated on the southern co ...

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

an General

Fructuoso Rivera José Fructuoso Rivera y Toscana (17 October 1784 – 13 January 1854) was a Uruguayan general and patriot who fought for the liberation of Banda Oriental from Brazilian rule, twice served as Uruguay's President and was one of the instigators ...

(1965), and to General

Manuel Savio Manuel Nicolás Aristóbulo Savio (Buenos Aires, 15 March 1893 – Buenos Aires, 31 July 1948) was an Argentine engineer and military man, noted for his contribution to Argentine heavy industry in his roles as general manager of Fabricaciones ...

, father of the Argentine steel industry, in

Villa María, Córdoba A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western ...

(1969). Another significant series of Fioravanti's work would adorn the

National Flag Memorial The National Flag Memorial (Spanish, ''Monumento Nacional a la Bandera'') in Rosario, Argentina, is a monumental complex built near the shore of the Paraná River. It was inaugurated on June 20, 1957, the anniversary of the death of Manuel Belgrano ...

, a landmark overlooking the

Paraná River The Paraná River ( es, Río Paraná, links=no , pt, Rio Paraná, gn, Ysyry Parana) is a river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina for some ."Parana River". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Br ...

in the city of

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central Argentine province of Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous city in the country, and is also the most p ...

. The memorial, built between 1947 and 1957, would feature Fioravanti's monument to

Manuel Belgrano Manuel José Joaquín del Corazón de Jesús Belgrano y González (3 June 1770 – 20 June 1820), usually referred to as Manuel Belgrano (), was an Argentine public servant, economist, lawyer, politician, journalist, and military leader. He ...

and five

allegorical sculpture Allegorical sculpture are sculptures of personifications of abstract ideas as in allegory. Common in the western world, for example, are statues of Lady Justice representing justice, traditionally holding scales and a sword, and the statues of Pru ...

s; these were created in

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids suc ...

and

travertine Travertine ( ) is a form of terrestrial limestone deposited around mineral springs, especially hot springs. It often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and even rusty varieties. It is formed by a p ...

. It would be the second significant collaboration with

Alfredo Bigatti Alfredo Bigatti (1898–1964) was an Argentine sculptor, medalist, and visual artist. Born in Buenos Aires, Bigatti studied and then taught at the Academy of Fine Arts, and then toured numerous countries in Europe from 1924 through 1928, includin ...

, who created the allegories representing the

Four Freedoms The Four Freedoms were goals articulated by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Monday, January 6, 1941. In an address known as the Four Freedoms speech (technically the 1941 State of the Union address), he proposed four fundamental freed ...

for the Roosevelt memorial. Fioravanti died in 1977, in Buenos Aires.

Images

File:Monumento_N_Avellaneda_Fioravanti_I.jpg, ''Nicolás Avellaneda'' (

, 1935) File:Monumento a Roque Sáenz Peña .jpg, ''Roque Sáenz Peña'' (

, 1936) File:Stensjölejon i Mar del Plata.jpg, ''Sea Lion'' (

, 1941) File:Monumento a Simon Bolivar (Buenos Aires) 2.JPG, ''Simón Bolivar'' (

, 1942) File:Monumento a la Bandera 6.jpg, ''The Motherland'' (

, 1957) File:Monumento_a_la_Bandera_-_Los_Andes.jpg, ''The Andes'' (National Flag Memorial) File:Memorial a Beethoven.JPG, Monument for

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

(, 1944)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fioravanti, Jose 1896 births 1977 deaths Argentine people of Italian descent People from Buenos Aires 20th-century Argentine sculptors Male sculptors 20th-century Argentine male artists