Angelo Frattini (10 November 1910 – 2 September 1975) was an Italian sculptor from

Varese Varese ( , ; or ; ; ; archaic ) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 was 80,559. It is the capital of the Province of Varese. The hinterland or exurban part ...

. He studied at

Brera Academy The Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera (), also known as the or Brera Academy, is a state-run tertiary public academy of fine arts in Milan, Italy. It shares its history, and its main building, with the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan's main public mu ...

and his first contacts with sculptural art were influenced by

Scapigliatura ''Scapigliatura'' () is the name of an artistic movement that developed in Italy after the Risorgimento period (1815–71). The movement included poets, writers, musicians, painters and sculptors. The term Scapigliatura is the Italian equivalent ...

's teachings. He also exhibited his works in

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

Washington DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

, where he was received by president

Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after assassination of John F. Kennedy, the assassination of John F. Ken ...

. Angelo Frattini died in Varese on September 2, 1975. In 1978 the artistic lyceum of his hometown was named after him.

Life

Born in Varese on November 10, 1910, Angelo Frattini became an orphan at the age of 9. His artistic formation took place initially in Naples and subsequently in Milan. Frattini served his Italian military service in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, where he attended Giovanni De Martino's evening classes and got to know Gemito's sculpture. In Naples he also frequented the Galleria d’Arte Moderna and the National Archeological Museum. For most of his youth he was self-taught, and was influenced by late Nineteenth Century art. In 1925 he was a student at Giuseppe Motta's evening class, and with his friend Flaminio Bertoni he carved some small low reliefs at Campo dei Fiori. When he went back to Milan in 1931, he studied at the Artistic Lyceum and then at the Academy of Brera, where he attended Francesco Messina's class. Varese was the background-city for his artistic growth from the 1930s. In 1934 he married Maria Gervasini, who, one year later, gave birth to their first son, Gianluigi. His first contact with the art of sculpture follows Giuseppe Grandi and the

teachings. He shared his contemporaneity with friends who were poets, writers, painters, sculptors and actors such as

Piero Chiara Piero Chiara (23 March 1913 – 31 December 1986) was an Italian writer. He was born in Luino, Italy. His father Eugenio was from Resuttano, Sicily, and his mother Virginia Maffei was from Comnago, a Piedmontese village in the municipality of ...

, Vittorio Sereni, Giuseppe Montanari, Aldo Patocchi, Luciano Ferriani, Paolo Conti, Aldo Carpi,

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 ...

and Gianni Santuccio. Widowed in 1953, in 1961 he married Magda Lazzari, mother of his third daughter, born in 1963. Angelo Frattini died in Varese, while the first anthological exhibition at Villa Mirabello was getting prepared.

Awards

In 1937 he received several awards: he won I Littoriali for the sculpture in Rome, at the

Campidoglio The Capitolium or Capitoline Hill ( ; ; ), between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. The hill was earlier known as ''Mons Saturnius'', dedicated to the god Saturn. The word ''Capitolium'' first referre ...

was rewarded for the Orfana, work bought by the Galleria d’Arte Moderna of Milan, and won the contest to make the big relief on the palace of Corporation in Piazza Monte Grappa in Varese. In 1937 was also born his second son, Vittore, who subsequently followed his father's steps in becoming an artist. In the same year Frattini received the I Premio of sculpture award in Naples, and in Milan in 1954 he received the I Premio awards for portraits. In 1965 Frattini was the artistic spokesperson for Italy in New York and in Washington, where he was received by the President of the United States

, in the collective "Mostra degli artisti italiani".

Exhibitions

In 1938 he held a major exhibition at the Galleria Ferrari of Milan, reference point for his whole career, and at the Biennale Internazionale d’Arte of Venice. He held further exhibitions in Venice in 1940 and in 1942. In 1946 he sculptured the portrait of King Umberto II di Savoia. He also boasted major exhibitions of his work at the Permanente of Milan and at other national exhibitions such as the Quadriennale d’Arte of Torino in 1955 and the Quadriennale of Rome the following year. In 1978 the artistic lyceum of Varese was named after him. The city of Varese has held several exhibitions to commemorate Frattini's life and works, including a homage by the Provincia di Varese in 1999. These include: * in 1999, a retrospective of him at

Villa Recalcati Villa Recalcati is a Baroque palace in Varese, in the neighborhood Casbeno, in Italy. It is the headquarter of the Province of Varese and one of the two locations of the Prefecture of Varese. Villa Recalcati was built in the first half of the ei ...

, headquarters of the Provincia di Varese; * in 2010, an exhibition at the Museo Bertoni; * in 2010, a centenary exhibition at Sala Veratti, to celebrate the centenary of his birth.

Works

References

* L. Gallina, ''Sculture di Frattini'', La Nuova Sfera Editrice Milano, Milan 1980. * D. Ferrari, ''Angelo Frattini e il suo tempo'', Fidia Edizioni d’Arte, Lugano 1999. * M. Conconi, ''Angelo Frattini, l’Artista, l’Artistico e la sua città'', Edizioni Arterigere, Varese 2010.
Arte Varese - Biografia di Angelo Frattini

Arte Varese - Angelo Frattini

Il Giorno (8 June 2010) - Alla sala Verratti il centenario dell'artista Angelo Frattini

Varese - Una mostra per ricordare Angelo Frattini

Varese - Un francobollo per ricordare Angelo Frattini

Angelo Frattini - Presentato da Flaminio Bertoni

Bibliography

External links

Arte Varese - Biografia di Angelo Frattini

Arte Varese - Angelo Frattini

Il Giorno (8 June 2010) - Alla sala Verratti il centenario dell'artista Angelo Frattini

Edizioni Arterigere - 2010 - un doppio anniversario: cento anni dalla nascita di Angelo Frattini, quaranta dalla fondazione del Liceo.

Emilio Dansi's sculpture by Angelo Frattini

Carità, low relief by Angelo Frattini
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frattini, Angelo 1910 births 1975 deaths 20th-century Italian sculptors 20th-century Italian male artists Italian male sculptors Brera Academy alumni