Edoardo Alfieri (1913 in
Foggia
Foggia (, , ; nap, label= Foggiano, Fògge ) is a city and former ''comune'' of Apulia, in Southern Italy, capital of the province of Foggia. In 2013, its population was 153,143. Foggia is the main city of a plain called Tavoliere, also know ...
, Italy – 1998 in
Sanremo
Sanremo (; lij, Sanrémmo(ro) or , ) or San Remo is a city and comune on the Mediterranean coast of Liguria, in northwestern Italy. Founded in Roman times, it has a population of 55,000, and is known as a tourist destination on the Italian Rivie ...
, Italy) was an Italian
sculptor
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 ...
.

Although he was born at Foggia in southern Italy, his family was of
Piemontese origin and soon moved to
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of t ...
, where he spent his childhood. He studied art at the school of Guido Galletti at Genoa and then, from 1932 to 1936, continued his studies at the
Brera Academy of Fine Arts in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4  ...
under Francesco Messina.
Already at the age of sixteen he won a first prize for his artwork at an exhibition in Genoa. In the 1930s, he was a member of the
futurist
Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities abou ...
group ''Synthesis''. After
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, he held a post as a lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts of Genoa until 1969.
Alfieri presented his work several times at the
Biennale of Venice: in 1940, 1948, 1950, and in 1956 even in a dedicated hall. His work has been characterized as oscillating between avant-garde and traditional. Besides
expressionist
Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
works such as the Dagna grave at the cemetery of Staglieno, he also did traditional sculptures like the
statue
A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture t ...
of
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
* lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo
* es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón
* pt, Cristóvão Colombo
* ca, Cristòfor (or )
* la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
that was given as gift to the city of
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, an ...
in the United States in 1955. Some of his works are abstract, for instance the Mele grave at
Staglieno, or the
bas-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 ...
''"Furor Mathematicus"''.
References
Edoardo Alfieri(in Italian). URL last accessed 2007-08-08.
(in Italian). URL last accessed 2007-08-08.
Further reading
*Sbrogi, F.: ''Edoardo Alfieri, L'opera 1929 – 1997'', Mazzotta, Milan 1998. Texts in Italian and English. .
1913 births
1998 deaths
20th-century Italian sculptors
20th-century Italian male artists
Italian male sculptors
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