Pericle Fazzini, the sculptor of the wind

The exhibition Pericle Fazzini, the sculptor of the wind at the Carlo Bilotti Museum in Villa Borghese, which celebrates the 110th anniversary of the artist's birth, is an anthological exhibition presenting a rich series of masterpieces of the famous sculptor to the Capitoline public.

Around fifty of the most representative works are presented throughout the exhibition, including sketches, drawings, small and large sculptures, now kept at the "Pericle Fazzini" Foundation, which narrate the journey of one of the greatest Italian artists of the 20th century.

The exhibition, curated by the art historian Alessandro Masi, in collaboration with Roberta Serra and Chiara Barbato, is an overview of Fazzini's entire artistic production, which ranges from the first works of the 1930s and 1940s such as "Woman in the storm" (1932) and "The boy with the seagulls" (1940-46) up to the original sketches of the "Resurrection" in the Pier Luigi Nervi room in the Vatican. Also noteworthy, among others, is the monumental sculpture of 1932, "Uscita dall'Arca", with which the young Fazzini won the scholarship for the National Artistic Pension, the "Ungaretti’s portrait " (1936; cast 1987) , the "Portrait of Sibilla Aleramo" (1947) and the "Dance", which saw him protagonist at the Roman Quadrennial of 1935.

Son of a carpenter, Pericle Fazzini was introduced by the poet Mario Rivosecchi into the artistic circles of the Mafai, Scipione, Mazzacurati, Ziveri and the gallery owner Anna Laetitia Pecci Blunt (Galleria La Cometa) in Rome, who marked a turning point in art in an expressionist and and anti-rhetorical sense against any art form of system and celebration of fascism. Defined by Ungaretti as "the sculptor of the wind", this artist among the most appreciated of the "Roman School", was the author of the most important examples of sacred art of the 1900s. His sculptures find space in important private and public collections such as the Moma in New York, the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome, the Guggenheim Collection in Venice, the Center Pompidou in Paris and the Momat in Tokyo.

An extensive catalog edited by De Luca Editore contains texts by Alessandro Masi, Bruno Racine, Claudio Strinati, Salvatore Italia, Roberta Serra, and Chiara Barbato. Finally, a vast bibliographic repertoire and a supplement of anthological writings, edited by the historian of the Italian language Giulio Ferroni, enrich the publication.

Photo credits: courtesy of the Carlo Bilotti Museum official site