Ángel María de Rosa (February 12, 1888 - February 26, 1970) was an Argentine sculptor and philanthropist.

Life and work

Ángel María de Rosa was born in Junín, a

pampas The Pampas (; from Quechua 'plain'), also known as the Pampas Plain, are fertile South American low grasslands that cover more than and include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, and Córdoba; all o ...

city in northern

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...

, in 1888. His parents Vicente De Rosa and Maria Pernicola were Italian immigrants. He enrolled in the Society for the Stimulus of Fine Arts, in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, while in his teens, and later transferred to the Bon Marché Arts Academy, where his teachers were renowned local painters

Ernesto de la Cárcova Ernesto de la Cárcova y Arrotea (March 3, 1866 – December 28, 1927) was an Argentine painter of the Realist school. Life and work Ernesto de la Cárcova was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1866. Taking an early interest in the canvas, ...

and

Pío Collivadino Pío Collivadino (August 20, 1869August 26, 1945) was an Argentine painter of the Post-Impressionist school. Life and work Pío Collivadino was born in Buenos Aires, in 1869. He studied drawing at the Italian Argentine cultural society, the ''S ...

. His training took him to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, where he studied at the Florentine Academy, until 1903, and in the Institute of Fine Arts in

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, ...

. Graduating in 1913, he received a First Prize from the Italian Ministry of Education before returning to Argentina. His work, ''La Visionaria'', earned him the same recognition at the

Panama–Pacific International Exposition The Panama–Pacific International Exposition was a world's fair held in San Francisco, California, United States, from February 20 to December 4, 1915. Its stated purpose was to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, but it was widely s ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, in 1915. In 1920 he married Franca Pacini in Rome with whom he had one daughter Berta. De Rosa and Pacini divorced in 1938. He exhibited his

plaster Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

and

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 metalloid ...

sculptures in 1928 in both Rome and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, and at the latter event, he sponsored fellow Argentine artist

Benito Quinquela Martín Benito Quinquela Martín (March 1, 1890 – January 28, 1977) was an Argentine painter. Quinquela Martín is considered the port painter-par-excellence and one of the most popular Argentine painters. His paintings of port scenes show the activity, ...

, a landscape painter who would later create Buenos Aires' well-known

Caminito Caminito ("little walkway" or "little path" in Spanish) is a street museum and a traditional alley, located in La Boca, a neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The place acquired cultural significance because it inspired the music for the fam ...

.Museo Municipal de Arte: Ángel María de Rosa
/ref> His 1943 gift of most of his own works, as well as of much of the art he had collected in Europe to his native Junín resulted in the 1944 creation of the Junín Municipal Museum of Fine Arts. Lacking its own facilities, the museum relocated to a series of temporary locations and was initially maintained by de Rosa and a fellow sculptor, Juan Donato Comuni. Comuni's death in 1962, however, was followed by de Rosa's own in 1970, at age 82.MUMA
/ref> The museum languished after his death, though the city's allocation of an ornate, former market hall led to its re-establishment as the

Ángel María de Rosa Municipal Museum of Art The Ángel María de Rosa Municipal Museum of Art (MUMA) is an art museum in Junín, Buenos Aires, Junín, a city in the north of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Overview The original Municipal Museum of Fine Arts resulted from a 1943 gift to th ...

, in 1978.

References

1888 births 1970 deaths 20th-century Argentine sculptors Argentine male artists Argentine male sculptors People from Junín, Buenos Aires {{Argentina-sculptor-stub