Arnaldo Pomodoro (born 23 June 1926) is an Italian sculptor. He was born in Morciano,

Romagna Romagna () is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna, in northern Italy. Etymology The name ''Romagna'' originates from the Latin name ''Romania'', which originally ...

, and lives and works in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. His brother,

Giò Pomodoro Giò Pomodoro (; 17 November 1930 – 21 December 2002) was an Italian sculptor, printmaker, and stage designer. His brother is the sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro. In 1954 he moved to Milan, where he associated with leading avant-garde artists and st ...

(1930–2002) was also a sculptor. Pomodoro designed a controversial fiberglass crucifix for the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

. The piece is topped with a four-and-a-half-meter diameter crown of thorns which hovers over the figure of Christ. Some of Pomodoro's '' Sphere Within Sphere'' (''Sfera con Sfera'') can be seen in the

Vatican Museums The Vatican Museums (; ) are the public museums of the Vatican City. They display works from the immense collection amassed by the Catholic Church and the papacy throughout the centuries, including several of the best-known Roman sculptures and ...

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

, the

United Nations Headquarters The headquarters of the United Nations (UN) is on of grounds in the Turtle Bay, Manhattan, Turtle Bay neighborhood of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It borders First Avenue (Manhattan), First Avenue to the west, 42nd Street (Manhattan), 42nd ...

and Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York, the

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was designed ...

in Washington, D.C.
Christian Theological Seminary
in Indianapolis, the

de Young Museum The de Young Museum, formally the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, is a fine arts museum located in San Francisco, California, named for early San Francisco newspaperman M. H. de Young. Located on the West Side (San Francisco), West Side of the ci ...

in San Francisco,

Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art ( Persian: موزه هنرهای معاصر تهران), also known as TMoCA, is among the largest art museums in Tehran and Iran. It has collections of more than 3,000 items that include 19th and 20th century ...

, American Republic Insurance Company in Des Moines, Iowa, the Columbus Museum of Art in Columbus, Ohio, the west entrance to the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

campus, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia, the Stanford University sculpture garden, and Tel Aviv University, Israel.

Early life

Arnaldo Pomodoro was born on 23 June 1926 in

Morciano di Romagna Morciano di Romagna ( or ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Rimini in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna. It is about southeast of Bologna and about southeast of Rimini. The Conca flows past the town. History Since the Middle A ...

Montefeltro Montefeltro is a historical and geographical region in northern Italy. It gave its name to the House of Montefeltro, Montefeltro family, who ruled in the area during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The mountainous region includes San Marino ...

area. He received his diploma from the Technical Institute for Surveyors in

Rimini Rimini ( , ; or ; ) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. Sprawling along the Adriatic Sea, Rimini is situated at a strategically-important north-south passage along the coast at the southern tip of the Po Valley. It is ...

, and then worked at the Public Works Office in Pesaro. He developed an interest in art and scenography, and attended the Art Institute in

Pesaro Pesaro (; ) is a (municipality) in the Italy, Italian region of Marche, capital of the province of Pesaro and Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the ...

1950s–60s

In 1953, Pomodoro attended an exhibition of

Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

which was held in Milan at the

Palazzo Reale This is a list of royal palaces, sorted by continent. Africa Americas Asia Europe Oceania {, class="wikitable" width="95%" , - bgcolor="white" !align=center, Residence !align=center, Photo !align=center, City !align=cen ...

. This exhibition made a strong impression on him, and a year after he moved to Milan where he joined the artistic community and became friends with

Lucio Fontana Lucio Fontana (; 19 February 1899 – 7 September 1968) was an Italian Argentines, Argentine-Italian painter, sculptor, and theorist. He is known as the founder of Spatialism and exponent of Abstract art, abstract painting as the f ...

, Dangelo, Sanesi, Baj, and others. He took part in the 10th

Triennale The Triennale di Milano is a museum of art and design in the Parco Sempione in Milan, in Lombardy in northern Italy. It is housed in the , built between 1931 and 1933 to designs by Giovanni Muzio and financed by Antonio Bernocchi and his ...

in Milan, and together with his brother Gio' he also participated in 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 (), ...

. In 1959, Arnaldo Pomodoro received a grant to study American art, and traveled to the United States for the first time. He describes his visit to

MoMa The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

and seeing Brancusi's sculptures as a strong inspiration for his work. In San Francisco, he met

Mark Rothko Mark Rothko ( ; Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz until 1940; September 25, 1903February 25, 1970) was an American abstract art, abstract painter. He is best known for his color field paintings that depicted irregular and painterly rectangular reg ...

who was teaching at the

California School of Fine Arts San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximately ...

. In New York Pomodoro met

Costantino Nivola Costantino (also known as Antine, in Sardinia, or Tino, in the United States, US) Nivola (July 5, 1911 – May 6, 1988) was a Sardinian people, Sardinian and Italian sculptor, architectural sculptor, muralist, designer, and teacher. Born in O ...

and

Enrico Donati Enrico Donati (February 19, 1909 – April 25, 2008) was an Italian-American Surrealist painter and sculptor. Life and work Son of Federico Donati and Marianna Vita, nephew of Angelo Donati, born in Milan in 1909, Enrico Donati studied economics ...

who introduced him to such artists as

Franz Kline Franz Kline (May 23, 1910 – May 13, 1962) was an American painter. He is associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement of the 1940s and 1950s. Kline, along with other action painters like Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Robert Mo ...

Jasper Johns Jasper Johns (born May 15, 1930) is an American painter, sculptor, draftsman, and printmaker. Considered a central figure in the development of American postwar art, he has been variously associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, and ...

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...

and others. He also met sculptors David Smith and

Louise Nevelson Louise Nevelson (September 23, 1899 – April 17, 1988) was an American sculptor known for her monumental, monochromatic, wooden wall pieces and outdoor sculptures. Born in the Poltava Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Kyiv Oblast, ...

, and organized an exhibition ''New Work from Italy'', dedicated to Italian artists. Later in 1960s, he developed a collaboration with the

Marlborough Gallery Marlborough Fine Art was founded in London in 1946 by Frank Lloyd and Harry Fischer. In 1963, a gallery was opened as Marlborough-Gerson in Manhattan, New York, at the Fuller Building on Madison Avenue and 57th Street, which later relocated in ...

in New York. In 1963, Pomodoro received the International Prize for Sculpture at the VII

São Paulo Biennale SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Serb Autonomous Regions (''Srpska autonomna oblast'', SAO), during the breakup of Y ...

and also the National Prize for Sculpture at the XXXII

in 1964. In 1966, he became an artist in residence at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, and then at

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

and

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, California is part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was relocated to Oakland in ...

. The following year he created the ''Sfera grande'' for the Italian Pavilion at the Montreal Expo. This sculpture is now located in front of the Farnesina Palace 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, ...

. That year Pomodoro won the International Prize for Sculpture from the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh.

1970s–80s

In 1972, Arnaldo Pomodoro returned to set design, and worked on the play ''

Das Käthchen von Heilbronn ' (''Katie of Heilbronn or The Trial by Fire'') (1807–1808) is a "great historical knightly play" (German: ') in five acts by the German playwright Heinrich von Kleist. The action of the drama takes place in Swabia during the Middle Ages. Per ...

'' by

Heinrich von Kleist Bernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist (; 18 October 177721 November 1811) was a German poet, dramatist, novelist, short story writer and journalist. His best known works are the theatre plays ''The Prince of Homburg'', '' Das Käthchen von Heilbronn'' ...

, which was staged in Zurich. In 1984, he had a large retrospective exhibition at the Forte di Belvedere in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

. In 1988, Pomodoro participated in the

as well as the international exhibition of sculpture at the World Expo in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

. His work ''Forme del Mito'' (''Forms of Myth'') which was displayed at the Expo, was later purchased by

Brisbane City Council Brisbane City Council (BCC, also known as Council) is the local government of the City of Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. The largest local government in Australia by population, BCC's jurisdiction includes 2 ...

for the City of

1990s–present

In 1990, Arnaldo Pomodoro received the

Praemium Imperiale Prince Takamatsu The Praemium Imperiale () is an international art prize inaugurated in 1988 and awarded since 1989 by the Imperial family of Japan on behalf of the Japan Art Association in the fields of painting, sculpture, architecture, mu ...

for Sculpture from the Japan Art Association. His work ''Sfera con Sfera'' was installed in the Cortile della Pigna of the

. In 1992, he was awarded an honorary degree in Literature by

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

in Dublin. The following year he was nominated the honorary member of the Brera Art Academy in Milan. In 1995, the ''Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro'' was created as a cultural and exhibition center dedicated to contemporary art. Originally conceived as a centre to document and archive the work of the artist, it opened an exhibition space in 2005, hosting exhibitions of prominent artists such as

Jannis Kounellis Jannis Kounellis (; 23 March 1936 – 16 February 2017) was a Greek Italian artist based in Rome. A key figure associated with Arte Povera, he studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome. Life and work Kounellis was born in Piraeus, Greece i ...

and

Robert Rauschenberg Milton Ernest "Robert" or "Bob" Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the Pop art movement. Rauschenberg is well known for his Combine painting, Combines (1954� ...

. The director of Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro is Flaminio Gualdoni. In 1996, Arnaldo Pomodoro was awarded the Knight of the Great Cross of the Italian Republic (Cavaliere di gran croce dell'Ordine al merito della Repubblica italiana). His sculpture ''Sfera con Sfera'' was installed in front of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

building in New York City. In 2014–15, Pomodoro finished one of his fundamental works – ''the Pietrarubbia Group,'' which was started in 1975. He then explained the idea behind this project: Pomodoro was still active as of 2024 and exhibited recent work that year at his current gallery, Cortesi Gallery in Milan: https://cortesigallery.com/exhibitions/arnaldo-pomodoro-il-movimento-possibile/

Quotes

On Form and Movement:

Set design for theatre and opera

* ''Semiramide'' by

Gioacchino Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote man ...

(1982), Teatro dell'Opera of

* ''Orestea di Gibellina'' by

Emilio Isgrò Emilio Isgrò (born October 1937, in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto, Sicily) is an Italian artist and writer, known for his use of the erasure technique in his art works. Biography Isgrò was born in Sicily but he moved to Milan when he was 19. He ...

, on a text by Eschilo (1983–1985) * ''Didone'' by

Christopher Marlowe Christopher Marlowe ( ; Baptism, baptised 26 February 156430 May 1593), also known as Kit Marlowe, was an English playwright, poet, and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe is among the most famous of the English Renaissance theatre, Eli ...

(1986) * ''Alceste'' by

Christoph Willibald Gluck Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; ; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period (music), classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of th ...

(1987), Teatro dell'Opera of

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

– stage and costumes * ''Oedipus rex'' by

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

(1988),

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

* ''La Passione di Cleopatra'' by

Ahmad Shawqi Ahmed Shawqi (, , ; 1868–1932), nicknamed the Prince of Poets ( ''Amīr al-Shu‘arā’''), was an Egyptian poet laureate, linguist, and one of the most famous Arabic literary writers of the modern era in the Arab World. Life Shawqi was b ...

, an Egyptian poet (1989) * ''I Paraventi'' by

Jean Genet Jean Genet (; ; – ) was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. In his early life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but he later became a writer and playwright. His major works include the novels '' The Th ...

(1990), Teatro Comunale of

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

– stage and costumes * ''Nella solitudine dei campi di cotone'' by

Bernard-Marie Koltès Bernard-Marie Koltès (; ; 9 April 1948 – 15 April 1989) was a French playwright and theatre director best known for his plays ''La Nuit juste avant les Forêts'' (''The Night Just Before the Forests'', 1976), ''Sallinger'' (1977) and ''Dans ...

(1992) * ''Più grandiose dimore'' by

Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of Realism (theatre), realism, earlier associated with ...

(1993) * ''Oreste'' di

Vittorio Alfieri Count Vittorio Amedeo Alfieri (, also , ; 16 January 17498 October 1803) was an Italians, Italian dramatist and poet, considered the "founder of Italian tragedy." He wrote nineteen tragedies, sonnets, satires, and a notable autobiography. Early l ...

(1993) * ''Stabat Mater'', ''La passione secondo Giovanni'' and ''Vespro della Beata Vergine'' by

Antonio Tarantino Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language–speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular m ...

(1994–1995) * ''Moonlight'' by

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A List of Nobel laureates in Literature, Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramat ...

(1995) * ''Drammi Marini'' by

(1996) * ''Antigone'' by

Jean Anouilh Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh (; ; 23 June 1910 – 3 October 1987) was a French dramatist and screenwriter whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1944 play ...

(1996) * ''Tempesta (The Tempest)'' by

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

(1998) – stage and costumes * ''Un ballo in maschera'' by

Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi ( ; ; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for List of compositions by Giuseppe Verdi, his operas. He was born near Busseto, a small town in the province of Parma ...

(2005), Opernhaus of

Lipsia Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

– stage and costumes * ''

Teneke Teneke may refer to: * Teneke (novel), a 1955 novel by writer Yaşar Kemal * Teneke (opera), a 2007 opera by composer Fabio Vacchi * Teneke (river), a stream in Akmola Region, Kazakhstan {{disambiguation ...

'' by

Fabio Vacchi Fabio Vacchi (; born 19 February 1949) is an Italian composer. Biography Training and debut Fabio Vacchi studied at the Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini of Bologna with Giacomo Manzoni and Tito Gotti. In 1974 he participated in the cour ...

(2007),

Teatro alla Scala La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was a church). The premiere performance was Antonio Salieri's ''Europa r ...

– stage and costumes

Honors and awards

** International Prize for Sculpture, VII

, 1963. ** National Prize for Sculpture, XXXII

, 1964. ** International Prize for Sculpture, Carnegie Institute, 1967. **

for Sculpture, Japan Art Association, 1990. ** Honorary degree in Literature,

, 1992. ** The Knight of the Great Cross of the Italian Republic, 1996. **

International Sculpture Center The International Sculpture Center (ISC) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in 1960 by Elden Tefft and James A. Sterritt at the University of Kansas. It is currently located at Grounds For Sculpture (the former the New Jersey Fairground) i ...

's Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award, 2008.International Sculpture Center website
'Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award page'
Retrieved 24 January 2010.

Gallery

Image:Trinity Pomodoro.jpg, ''Sphere Within Sphere'' by Pomodoro in Trinity College, Dublin Image:Amaliehaven - column.jpg, One of four columns by Pomodoro in the Amaliehaven park in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, Denmark Image:Paolo Monti - Servizio fotografico - BEIC 6343260.jpg, Arnoldo Pomodoro, 1965

Footnotes

References

* Radford, Georgia and Warren Radford, ''Sculpture in the Sun, Hawaii's Art for Open Spaces'', University of Hawaii Press, 1978, 95.

External links

Arnaldo Pomodoro biography on the Guggenheim Museum Website

Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro

Museum of Outdoor Arts MOA>art piece full details

Arnaldo Pomodoro's major creations
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pomodoro, Arnaldo 20th-century Italian sculptors 20th-century Italian male artists Italian male sculptors 21st-century Italian sculptors Italian contemporary artists Living people 1926 births 21st-century Italian male artists