Umberto Mastroianni

Umberto Mastroianni ( born September 21, 1910 in Fontana Liri ( province of Frosinone), Italy; † 25 February 1998 in Marino, Italy), was an Italian sculptor. He is one of the most important representatives of Abstract Art after the Second World War.

Life and work

Umberto Mastroianni was the uncle of the famous actor Marcello Mastroianni ( 1924-1996 ). He moved in 1924 to Rome, where he in the studio of his uncle - the sculptor Domenico Mastroianni ( 1876-1962 ) - worked and studied at the Accademia di San Marcello. In 1926 he moved to Turin and worked in the studio of the sculptor Michele Guerrisi ( 1893-1963 ).

Mastroianni lived and worked most of his life in Turin. One of his most important works is the monument to the partisans established in 1945 in Turin. In the fifties his art garnered international acclaim. 1951, Mastroianni his first solo exhibition in Paris at the Galerie de France. Umberto Mastroianni was, among other things, participants of the XXIX. Venice Biennale 1958 ( where he was the prize for sculpture: " Gran Premio Internazionale per la scultura " won ) and also the documenta II in Kassel in 1959. In 1960, he had in the United States, a solo exhibition in New York in the Kleeman Gallery and the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. In 1973 he was awarded an Antonio Feltrinelli Prize, in 1989 with the Japanese Praemium Imperiale Arts Award.

His art has evolved from the original style of futurism into abstract sculptures powerful impact. His bronze sculptures are often swallowed up in and nest and leave the viewer integrated body and divine essentiality.

On 15 January 1999, almost a year after his death from his estate, the foundation " Fondazione Umberto Mastroianni " in Arpino, based in his home province of Frosinone.