DOI Heft:
No. 217 (April, 1911)
DOI Artikel:Macfarlane, Cecil: An italian sculptor: Leonardo Bistolfi
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20972#0204
Leonardo Bistolfi
sculptors of the day. In The Dream and typified the various categories of the human
The Holocaust, also produced at this period, race who, in this symbol of Justice and Redemp-
he gives full play to his symbolic fancy ; they tion, find their haven of refuge. Although the
are poems full of emotional fervour. architectural structure of this monument has
The Resurrection (1904) marks an important something in common with that of The Sphinx,
stage in the development of his technique. it differs greatly from any previous work in
It is conceived in the manner of the former technique as well as imagination. The composi-
groups ; three enlaced forms are bending over tion is simpler and more severe and it shows his
the body of a youth and with an infinitely first use of high relief. In no previous work
tender gesture welcome him upwards into has Bistolfi obtained such potent effects of light
the embracing circle of their clasped hands, and shade or revealed such convincing mastery
Flowers — symbolical of the eternal renewal of modelling. The vigorous figures of Labour,
of life—are everywhere, mingling in the falling and the kneeling youth in the foreground bring
folds of drapery and heaped about the prostrate to mind the powerful inspirations of Rodin,
figure. The plastic realisation of this group It is a forcible manifestation of Bistolfi's new
is, however, much clearer, the arrangement of trend of thought, the steady striving towards
the drapery is simpler and the forms more an ideal fusion of his great gifts of expression
definitely outlined. with the highest attainable perfection of form.
Far greater in the dignity of its conception The beautiful monument to Segantini des-
is the great bronze bas-relief in the Memorial tined for that artist's tomb at Maloja and which
Chapel at Belgirate, Les hmerailles de la —through Swiss bigotry not countenancing a
Vierge. The procession of veiled women nude figure in a cemetery—was relegated to the
bearing the dead girl is imagined with rare Segantini Museum at St. Moritz, is perhaps the
power and the rhythm of
the various attitudes is a^ftiW^Si*-
so perfectly harmonious
that the cortege seems to
move before one's eyes.
This peculiar sense of
motion is remarkable in
all of Bistolfi's preceding
works. His forms have
nothing inert about them,
the undulating flow of
their lines can be com-
pared to nothing more
adequately than a con-
tinuous musical theme.
The general popularity
of Bistolfi and the some-
what tardy official ac-
knowledgment of his great
artistic gifts date from
the first production, of
what may be called the
second phase of his plastic
inspiration, La Croix, a
monument to the Senator
Orsini—which occupied
the post of honour at
the Venice International
Art Exhibition in 1905
and was reproduced in
this magazine at the time. ., LA R£SURRECTI0N by Leonardo bistolfi
Beneath the cross he has (In the Cemetery at Genoa
182
sculptors of the day. In The Dream and typified the various categories of the human
The Holocaust, also produced at this period, race who, in this symbol of Justice and Redemp-
he gives full play to his symbolic fancy ; they tion, find their haven of refuge. Although the
are poems full of emotional fervour. architectural structure of this monument has
The Resurrection (1904) marks an important something in common with that of The Sphinx,
stage in the development of his technique. it differs greatly from any previous work in
It is conceived in the manner of the former technique as well as imagination. The composi-
groups ; three enlaced forms are bending over tion is simpler and more severe and it shows his
the body of a youth and with an infinitely first use of high relief. In no previous work
tender gesture welcome him upwards into has Bistolfi obtained such potent effects of light
the embracing circle of their clasped hands, and shade or revealed such convincing mastery
Flowers — symbolical of the eternal renewal of modelling. The vigorous figures of Labour,
of life—are everywhere, mingling in the falling and the kneeling youth in the foreground bring
folds of drapery and heaped about the prostrate to mind the powerful inspirations of Rodin,
figure. The plastic realisation of this group It is a forcible manifestation of Bistolfi's new
is, however, much clearer, the arrangement of trend of thought, the steady striving towards
the drapery is simpler and the forms more an ideal fusion of his great gifts of expression
definitely outlined. with the highest attainable perfection of form.
Far greater in the dignity of its conception The beautiful monument to Segantini des-
is the great bronze bas-relief in the Memorial tined for that artist's tomb at Maloja and which
Chapel at Belgirate, Les hmerailles de la —through Swiss bigotry not countenancing a
Vierge. The procession of veiled women nude figure in a cemetery—was relegated to the
bearing the dead girl is imagined with rare Segantini Museum at St. Moritz, is perhaps the
power and the rhythm of
the various attitudes is a^ftiW^Si*-
so perfectly harmonious
that the cortege seems to
move before one's eyes.
This peculiar sense of
motion is remarkable in
all of Bistolfi's preceding
works. His forms have
nothing inert about them,
the undulating flow of
their lines can be com-
pared to nothing more
adequately than a con-
tinuous musical theme.
The general popularity
of Bistolfi and the some-
what tardy official ac-
knowledgment of his great
artistic gifts date from
the first production, of
what may be called the
second phase of his plastic
inspiration, La Croix, a
monument to the Senator
Orsini—which occupied
the post of honour at
the Venice International
Art Exhibition in 1905
and was reproduced in
this magazine at the time. ., LA R£SURRECTI0N by Leonardo bistolfi
Beneath the cross he has (In the Cemetery at Genoa
182