Francesco Somaini
Encyclopedia
Francesco Somaini was an Italian
sculptor
.
’s courses at the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera
and debuted in 1948 at the National Exhibition of Figurative Arts, promoted by the Quadrennial of Rome. He graduated in law at the Pavia University in 1949. And in 1950, he took part in the Venice Biennale
for the first time. After a period of reflection upon the experiences of the international contemporary sculpture, he became interested in abstractionism
and, in the mid 1950s, achieved an autonomy of language with sculptures realized in “ferric conglomerate” (Canto Aperto, Forza del nascere), art work that marked his entrance in the Concrete Art Movement (MAC) and preluded the great informal period.
and Michel Tapié
. Being interested in experimenting with different materials, he casted his works also in iron, lead and pewter, attacking them with the blowtorch, and finally polishing their concave parts in order to accentuate their expressive drive. This was the time of Martirii and Feriti, presented in the various personal exhibitions set up at the National Gallery of Turin
, at the Italian Cultural Institute of New York, at the Blu Gallery of Rome
and in all the most important international collective exhibitions of sculpture.
, 1972).
Parallel to these studies on the relationship between sculpture, architecture and the environment, Somaini experimented a personal technique of direct carving executed by using a high pressure jet of sand. This approach became a fundamental component of his plastic language from 1965 onward.
in 1979 (Sviluppo di un paesaggio antropomorfico e matrice, 1978–79) and in the personal exhibition at the Botanical Garden of Lucca
in 1980 (Svolgimento dell’avvolto: traccia tragica, 1979).
This activity went on in successive works of great commitment like Fortunia (1988), in a series of Lotte con il serpente characterized by an organic nature overbearingly lively, as in Fortunia Vincitrice (2000). Some of the above-mentioned works were presented in the anthological exhibition set up in the Brera Palace of Milan in 1997, in the Quadrennial of Rome of 1999, in the Carrara Biennales of 1998 and 2000 and in the anthological exhibition at the Pergine Castle (Trento
) in 2000.
In recent years the sculptor carried forward, side-by-side to his plastic activity, his drawing and painting activity in a more intensive way. In 1999, he realized a large series of works on paper that recalled in a fantastic way the myths and legends related to the Vulcan Etna, revisited also through the reading of Maria Corti’s book (Catasto magico, Einaudi, 1999). In the following years he put in the offices of the Bennet shopping mall of Montano Lucino (Como) Fortunia Vincitrice (1997–2000) and Variazioni su grande scultura verticale (2001).
Somaini took part in some important exhibitions, as Arts and Architecture, 1900-2000 trusted by Germano Celant
at Palazzo Ducale of Genova
(2004), Italian Sculpture of the XX century at the Arnaldo Pomodoro Foundation and Annicinquanta. The offspring of Italian creativity, Royal Palace of Milan (2005).
He died in Como on November the 19th 2005. The National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art of Rome dedicated him the first posthumous retrospective exhibition, The informal period 1957-1964 (2007).
: it is characterized by a large production of drawings and paintings, often finalized to the projectual study of sculptural works. The artist also experimented new expressive means such as photography
(with the realization of photomontages mostly related to his reflection upon modern metropolies, 1974–1980) and live performance
(action of Brema, 1986). Worth of mention also the sculptor's activity since the 1950s in the architectural field in collaboration, among others, with Luigi Caccia Dominioni, Ico Parisi and Ignazio Gardella
(to see some of these works visit the site *Fondazione Ordine degli Architetti).
Some of the most important works of Somaini are located in major museums of the United States
, Germany
, Holland, Austria
, Italy
, Vatican City
, Belgium
, Finland
, Brasil and Serbia
.
Others are located in public spaces in the Stati Uniti, Italy, Japan
, New Zealand
, Holland and Switzerland
.
More information about this subject can be found on the sculptor's website Archivio Francesco Somaini Scultore.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
sculptor
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
.
Biography
1946-1957 - Artistic formation
Francesco Somaini was born in Lomazzo (Como) on 6 August 1926. He attended Giacomo ManzùGiacomo Manzù
Giacomo Manzù, pseudonym of Giacomo Manzoni , was an Italian sculptor, communist, and Roman Catholic.-Biography:...
’s courses at the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera
Brera
Brera is a district of Milan, ItalyBrera may also refer to:* the Palazzo Brera, a historical building in Brera; the palace also houses:** the Brera Art Academy** the Brera Art Gallery** the Brera Astronomical Observatory...
and debuted in 1948 at the National Exhibition of Figurative Arts, promoted by the Quadrennial of Rome. He graduated in law at the Pavia University in 1949. And in 1950, he took part in the Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
for the first time. After a period of reflection upon the experiences of the international contemporary sculpture, he became interested in abstractionism
Abstractionism
See also Abstract artAbstractionism is the theory that the mind obtains some or all of its concepts by abstracting them from concepts it already has, or from experience. One may, for example, abstract 'green' from a set of experiences which involve green along with other properties...
and, in the mid 1950s, achieved an autonomy of language with sculptures realized in “ferric conglomerate” (Canto Aperto, Forza del nascere), art work that marked his entrance in the Concrete Art Movement (MAC) and preluded the great informal period.
1957-1966 - The Informal period
He imposed himself upon critics’ attention in 1956, thanks to his participation in the XXVIII Biennale of Venice. He reached success at a worldwide level in 1959 with the exhibition hall at the V Biennale of San Paolo of Brazil, where he gained the first international prize for sculpture: this international recognition allowed him to access the United States art market. In the 1960 he was invited to set up his own exhibition hall at the XXX Venice Biennale. In the following year, he participated in the Deuxième Biennale of Paris, where he was awarded the first prize of the French Art Criticism. During this period, his sculptures met the favor of critics like Giulio Carlo ArganGiulio Carlo Argan
Giulio Carlo Argan was an Italian art historian and politician.-Biography:Argan was born in Turin and studied in the University of Turin, graduating in 1931. In 1928 he entered the National Fascist Party...
and Michel Tapié
Michel Tapié
Michel Tapié was an internationally active French critic, curator, and collector of art. He was an early and influential theorist and practitioner of "tachisme", which is generally regarded as the European equivalent of abstract expressionism...
. Being interested in experimenting with different materials, he casted his works also in iron, lead and pewter, attacking them with the blowtorch, and finally polishing their concave parts in order to accentuate their expressive drive. This was the time of Martirii and Feriti, presented in the various personal exhibitions set up at the National Gallery of Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
, at the Italian Cultural Institute of New York, at the Blu Gallery of Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and in all the most important international collective exhibitions of sculpture.
1967-1975 - Monumental works: reflections upon the relationship between sculpture, architecture and modern cities
After the informal period, Somaini started to give to his sculptures symbolic meanings (Portals, 1967): organic forms were put in a continuous dialectic relationship with architectural geometric volumes; this visionary research culminated in the cycle of Carnificazioni di un’architettura (1974–1976). Starting from the conviction that sculpture shall have a role in the requalification of the urban architectural context – opinion matured between 1958 and 1972, during informal experiences made on a big scale in Italy and in the United States – the sculptor formalized his own ideas, both at a theoretical and utopist level, in a series of project studies (Enrico Crispolti, Francesco Somaini, Urgency in the city, Mazzotta, MilanMilan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, 1972).
Parallel to these studies on the relationship between sculpture, architecture and the environment, Somaini experimented a personal technique of direct carving executed by using a high pressure jet of sand. This approach became a fundamental component of his plastic language from 1965 onward.
1975-1986 - Matrixes and traces
In 1975 the conceptual analysis of the laboratorial procedures related to sculpture brought the artist to the creation of a bas-relief “Trace”, obtained by rolling a carved “Matrix” that, leaving a mark in evolution, developed and revealed on the “Trace” a cryptic image in negative. Matrixes and traces introduced the dynamic element, the action, the idea of a path, of an intervention that involved architecture and urban context. These new works of art were presented in his personal exhibition hall at the Venice Biennale of 1978 (Prima traccia e la scultura matrice: Antropoammonite), in the anthological exhibition at the Wilhelm – Lembruck Museum of DuisburgDuisburg
- History :A legend recorded by Johannes Aventinus holds that Duisburg, was built by the eponymous Tuisto, mythical progenitor of Germans, ca. 2395 BC...
in 1979 (Sviluppo di un paesaggio antropomorfico e matrice, 1978–79) and in the personal exhibition at the Botanical Garden of Lucca
Lucca
Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plainnear the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...
in 1980 (Svolgimento dell’avvolto: traccia tragica, 1979).
1987-2005 - The last season: great marbles
From the mid 1980s onward, Somaini came back again to the execution of large scale works in Italy and Japan, where the dialectics of the mark brought the sculptor to deal with positive/negative shapes, as in Europe’s Gate, Como, 1995.This activity went on in successive works of great commitment like Fortunia (1988), in a series of Lotte con il serpente characterized by an organic nature overbearingly lively, as in Fortunia Vincitrice (2000). Some of the above-mentioned works were presented in the anthological exhibition set up in the Brera Palace of Milan in 1997, in the Quadrennial of Rome of 1999, in the Carrara Biennales of 1998 and 2000 and in the anthological exhibition at the Pergine Castle (Trento
Trento
Trento is an Italian city located in the Adige River valley in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. It is the capital of Trentino...
) in 2000.
In recent years the sculptor carried forward, side-by-side to his plastic activity, his drawing and painting activity in a more intensive way. In 1999, he realized a large series of works on paper that recalled in a fantastic way the myths and legends related to the Vulcan Etna, revisited also through the reading of Maria Corti’s book (Catasto magico, Einaudi, 1999). In the following years he put in the offices of the Bennet shopping mall of Montano Lucino (Como) Fortunia Vincitrice (1997–2000) and Variazioni su grande scultura verticale (2001).
Somaini took part in some important exhibitions, as Arts and Architecture, 1900-2000 trusted by Germano Celant
Germano Celant
Germano Celant is an Italian art historian, critic and curator, mostly renewed for being one of the founding members of the "Arte Povera" movement in 1967....
at Palazzo Ducale of Genova
Génova
Génova may refer to:* Spanish spelling of the city of Genoa, Italy* Génova, Quindío, a municipality in the department of Quindío, Colombia* Génova, Quetzaltenango, a municipality in the department of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala...
(2004), Italian Sculpture of the XX century at the Arnaldo Pomodoro Foundation and Annicinquanta. The offspring of Italian creativity, Royal Palace of Milan (2005).
He died in Como on November the 19th 2005. The National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art of Rome dedicated him the first posthumous retrospective exhibition, The informal period 1957-1964 (2007).
Artistic production
Somaini's activity was not only confined to the field of sculptureSculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
: it is characterized by a large production of drawings and paintings, often finalized to the projectual study of sculptural works. The artist also experimented new expressive means such as photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
(with the realization of photomontages mostly related to his reflection upon modern metropolies, 1974–1980) and live performance
Performance
A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which a performer or group of performers behave in a particular way for another group of people, the audience. Choral music and ballet are examples. Usually the performers participate in rehearsals beforehand. Afterwards audience...
(action of Brema, 1986). Worth of mention also the sculptor's activity since the 1950s in the architectural field in collaboration, among others, with Luigi Caccia Dominioni, Ico Parisi and Ignazio Gardella
Ignazio Gardella
Ignazio Gardella was an Italian architect and designer.-Biography:Born into a family of architects, the first of which was his namesake Ignazio Gardella , he graduated in engineering from the Politecnico di Milano university in 1928 .In his university...
(to see some of these works visit the site *Fondazione Ordine degli Architetti).
Some of the most important works of Somaini are located in major museums of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Holland, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Vatican City
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, Brasil and Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
.
Others are located in public spaces in the Stati Uniti, Italy, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, Holland and Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
.
More information about this subject can be found on the sculptor's website Archivio Francesco Somaini Scultore.
External links
- Archivio Francesco Somaini Scultore
- Fondazione Ordine degli Architetti
- Magic Etna (1999) - Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice
- Large Bleeding Martyrdom (1960), Little story about the sea (1961) - Hirshhorn Museum and Sculptur Garden, Washington
- Sculpture for a planetarium (1962-1970) - Rochester Museum and Science Center, Rochester, NY
- Vertical I (1959) - Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
- Great Wounded (1960) - Palais de Congres, Bienne
- The Navigator (1960) at the University of Canterbury
- Traces (1984-85) - GAM, Gallarate
- Works