Giacomo Benevelli (1925 in

Reggio Emilia Reggio nell'Emilia (; ), usually referred to as Reggio Emilia, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, and known until Unification of Italy, 1861 as Reggio di Lombardia, is a city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has about 172,51 ...

, North of

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– July 13, 2011 in

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, Italy) was an Italian and French

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 sc ...

. He was brought up in

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. He lived and studied in

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. He mainly lived and worked for over forty years in

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Biography

He was the nephew of Anselmo Govi, a painter from

, who painted the fresco of the dome of the Ariosto Theatre. Benevelli was a member of the Tiberina Academy, an ancient and prestigious institution founded in 1813 with the aim to promote Italian arts and letters;

Antonio Canova Antonio Canova (; 1 November 1757 – 13 October 1822) was an Italians, Italian Neoclassical sculpture, Neoclassical sculptor, famous for his marble sculptures. Often regarded as the greatest of the Neoclassical artists,. his sculpture was ins ...

and Marino Marini belonged to the same institution. Benevelli was awarded the Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts by the Italian Government Presidency for his contributions to the arts. Since 1957 Benevelli exhibited in Italy and worldwide. His first US exhibition was in 1963 at the Felix Landau Gallery in

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. In 1964 he was invited to the 42nd

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International Art

Biennale In the art world, a biennale ( , ; ), is a large-scale international contemporary art exhibition. The term was popularised by the Venice Biennale, which was first held in 1895, but the concept of such a large scale, and intentionally internationa ...

with a group of sculptures. In 1966 he was appointed as Head of Sculpture at the Accademia di Brera in Milan. Between the late 1960s and the early 1970s he created a series of lamp-sculpture, the most famous is the Roto lamp (1970s) and Arabesque (late 1960s). In 2009 he started a collaboration with the worldwide design and furniture brand Natuzzi in the newly created Natuzzi Open Art, a space dedicated to the collaboration between art and design. Benevelli created a new line of art-objects which first premiered at the Cologne Trade Fair ( imm Cologne Furniture and Design fair), Salone del Mobile (Milan International Design Fair) and at the AD Home Show in New York (2010). In 1993 he realized a bronze sculpture called "Teleios", which can be seen in

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. In 2000 the city of

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organized a major exhibition of his works in the museum of the historical Casa del Mantegna. A book was published by Edizioni Casa del Mantegna on this occasion. In 2001, he exhibited his works in the historical Palazzo Isimbardi during an exhibition organized by the city of

. During the 2006

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he was invited to take part at the Italian Sculpture Exhibition at the Palazzina di Stupinigi. He realised a number of sacred art works for contemporary and ancient churches, and his works are preserved in numerous public and private collections in Italy and worldwide including at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in

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and at

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.British Museum Catalogues
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Bibliography

*''Dalla Pietra all’Ago'', Rizzoli, 1983 *''Tre scultori di Milano'', Kenjirō Azuma, Giacomo Benevelli, Giancarlo Marchese, 196? *''Azuma, Benevelli, Marchese: Galleria Mosaico, Chiasso'', La Galleria, 1966 *''Benevelli: sculture e disegni : Castello di Sartirana'' (Pavia), giugno - 9 settembre 1990Ed. "Centro Studi", 1990 *''Sculture contemporanee nello spazio urbano: Kengiro Azuma, Iginio Balderi, Giacomo Benevelli, Gianfranco Pardi, Giò Pomodoro, Carlo Ramous, Mauro Staccioli.'' July 1973, Tipo-lito Nuova Step *''Giacomo Benevelli: forme'', Andrea B. Del Guercio, editor S. Benevelli, Photography Cristina Cocullo, Translator R. A. Landon, Casa del Mantegna, 2000, *''Giacomo Benevelli, Forme al Giardino Malaspina, Pavia'' - Malaspina Gardens, Pavia, exhibition catalogue, Rossana Bossaglia, Photos by Cristina Cocullo, 2001 *''M. Hopkinson, Italian Prints 1875-1975'' (2007), exhibition catalogue, 208 pp., 48 colour, 80 b&w illus. The British Museum, London

References

External links

Giacomo Benevelli, ''Artnet''XXXXII Venice Art BiennaleBritish Museum database: Giacomo Benevelli
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benevelli, Giacomo 1925 births 20th-century Italian sculptors 20th-century Italian male artists 20th-century French male artists Italian male sculptors French male sculptors Italian contemporary artists French contemporary artists 21st-century Italian sculptors 21st-century Italian male artists 21st-century French male artists 2011 deaths Artists from Reggio Emilia Academic staff of Brera Academy