Umberto Bassignani (29 August 1878 – 21 January 1944) was an Italian sculptor. He designed public sculptures in Italy, France, Switzerland, Russia and Monaco, where he had an
atelier
An atelier () is the private workshop or studio of a professional artist in the fine or decorative arts or an architect, where a principal master and a number of assistants, students, and apprentices can work together producing fine art o ...
.
Early life
Umberto Bassignani was born on 29 August 1878 in
Fivizzano, Tuscany, Italy.
Career
Bassignani opened an atelier at 13 boulevard Charles III in Monaco in 1907.
He designed many sculptures in the
Monaco Cemetery.
He exhibited his work at the
Exposition Universelle et Internationale in Brussels in 1910, where he represented Monaco and he won a silver medal for a bust.
Bassignani designed
public sculptures in Italy, France, Switzerland, Russia and Monaco. For example, he designed the
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
monuments in his hometown of Fivizzano as well as in
Vazzola.
In France, he designed sculptures in Paris,
Nice
Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...
,
Aurillac and
Peille.
His public sculptures can also be seen in
Rostov
Rostov ( rus, Росто́в, p=rɐˈstof) is a town in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, one of the oldest in the country and a tourist center of the Golden Ring. It is located on the shores of Lake Nero, northeast of Moscow. Population:
While ...
, Russia, and in
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situ ...
, Switzerland.
He also designed the fountain on the Place Saint Nicolas in
Monaco-Ville in 1930.
Bassignani left Monaco in 1939.
Death and legacy
Bassignani died on 21 January 1944 in
Lerici,
Liguria
Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...
, Italy.
On 2 May 2017, the mayor of Monaco,
Georges Marsan, dedicated a commemorative plaque at the bottom of the fountain on the Place Saint Nicolas, with his name and dates.
Further reading
*
References
1878 births
1944 deaths
People from the Province of Massa-Carrara
Italian male sculptors
Sculptors from Tuscany
19th-century Italian male artists
19th-century Italian sculptors
20th-century Italian sculptors
20th-century Italian male artists
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