Adolfo Wildt
Adolfo Wildt ( born March 1, 1868 in Milan, † May 12, 1931 ibid, Via Sottocorno 3 ) was an Italian sculptor whose outstanding importance for modern sculpture and sculpture by art historians is confirmed again and again, although his work so far little known is.
Life and work
Wildt came from a very poor family of Swiss origin who has been resident for several generations, in Lombardy. Because of their low income, he had already quit at the age of nine years and contribute to livelihood as an auxiliary force of a hairdresser and a goldsmith in his schooling. At age eleven, he began an apprenticeship in the workshop of the sculptor Giuseppe Grandi, who made him familiar with the material of marble. Even as a 18 -year-old he was known for his skill in the fine machining of marble. From 1888, he worked for Federico Villa, who introduced him to the famous Lombard sculptors of his time. At the same time Wildt continue his education in the old Milan Brera, first at the high school of Applied Arts ( Scuola Superiore d' Arte Applicata ) and then at the Academy of Fine Arts ( Accademia di Belle Arti ).
1892 was the first work in marble, a woman's head, which is delivered with the name " La Vedova " and " Atte ". Since 1894 he worked for the Prussian art collector Francis Rose, who took him for 18 years under contract. This financial security enabled Wildt regular participation in exhibitions in Milan, Munich, Zurich, Berlin and Dresden. Given his admiration for Adolf von Hildebrand and Auguste Rodin experimented Wildt with marble, to give his works an opalescent transparency.
After the death of his patron Rose ( 1912) he was first forced to take on the art market. In 1913 he was awarded for the design of a large dimension fountain (La trilogia in the exhibition of the Munich Secession ) with the price of Prince Umberto ( Premio Principe Umberto ). The work was subsequently acquired by the City of Milan and placed permanently in the courtyard of the Humanitarian Society ( Società Umanitaria ). From 1914 he exhibited regularly. In addition, he received in 1919 an exhibition at Milan's Galleria Pesaro and participated in 1921, 1924 and 1926 with his works at the Venice Biennale. In 1921, he founded the school of marble sculpture ( Scuola del Marmo ), which was subsequently incorporated into the Accademia Brera and further developed there since 1927 in a three-year program. In Bolzano Victory Monument are three busts Wildts representing the irredentist Cesare Battisti, Damiano Chiesa and Fabio Filzi.
Among his most famous students include, inter alia, Lucio Fontana, Fausto Melotti and Luigi Broggini.
Art Historical Significance
Starting from the romanticism of the late 19th century, Wildt dedicated early an era marked by the Secession and Art Nouveau sculpture, which can be characterized by complex symbolism and an almost Gothic definition of its forms. The extremely smooth polished surfaces give its marble busts an absolute purity and integrity of plastic, which he seeks to unite with the dramatic feeling of almost paroxysmal intensity. In this regard, Wildt is on the threshold of expressionism, which is especially evident in the painful shocked expression of his self-portraits from 1908.