Salvatore Cipolla Biography
Salvatore Cipolla (Mirabella Imbaccari 1933 – Sesto Fiorentino 2006) "There is no starting day in my artistic career. It can be said that I have always worked". Born in Sicily in Mirabella Imbaccari, in the province of Catania, on 22 April 1933, Salvatore Cipolla discovered art and breathed it from early childhood. In fact, since the age of four or five, his sculptor father put clay in his hands, with which he enjoyed modeling small figures of saints. "Being born into a family of ceramists was essential for my education. Ceramics is the memory of my childhood alongside my father when he modeled in the evening after dinner, sometimes even by candlelight. I can still hear the noise of the stick of wood that he used to shape small sculptures in absolutely perfect silence, since television did not exist at the time and radios were the prerogative of the wealthy; I remember those days with nostalgia and I guard them jealously because they taught me to love this subject in a boundless way". So it was that in 1944, at just 11 years old, he decided to move to Comiso to study ceramics and sculpture at the School of Art. His early works were inspired by street scenes (particularly street musicians) or his childhood readings such as Cervantes' "Don Quixote". This is a theme that we will also find in his more mature works. "I still feel like Don Quixote fighting against a certain type of culture." One of these works created for the School of Art even ended up at the Faenza Ceramics Museum. In Comiso he was hosted by the sculptor Giuseppe Micieli, a very important figure, after that of his father, for his education because it was he who made him discover those modern authors such as Picasso, Adolfo Wildt, Marino Marini, Braque and others, to whom he will remain ideally linked For all life. After completing his primary studies, he decided to enroll in the Caltagirone Art Institute in 1947 to follow a two-year specialization course in ceramics. Salvatore, however, did not feel stimulated in the creation of those "custom" figures, typical of the local tradition: the classic card players, fishermen, ricotta makers. So, after just two months, he returned to Mirabella to convince his mother to move him to Florence, but those were hard years for the family who could not count on the support of his father, who unfortunately died recently. Despite everything, the desire to realize one's dream and to emerge prevailed. In 1949 Salvatore managed to scrape together some money thanks to a series of drawings that he sold to a schoolmate. "My whole life started from these first five thousand lire that I managed to earn." With this money, at just 16 years old, he left for Florence, carrying under his arm a folder of drawings and photographs with portraits of generals and politicians. Before reaching the Medici city, Salvatore was received in Niscemi by Senator Samperi - one of the characters he portrayed - who, having recognized the talent of the young boy, wrote him a letter of introduction to have the doors of Palazzo Madama opened for him. Precisely following the meeting with a Roman senator, Cipolla was able to obtain the much desired transfer to the Porta Romana Institute in Florence and a scholarship of six thousand lire a month. It was the beginning of a long and happy artistic journey. The following year saw him win the ceramic exhibition in Sesto Fiorentino, where he had settled, and various national ceramic competitions which earned him prizes and publications. After obtaining his diploma in 1953, Salvatore began his work "Cat Fight" with which he took part in the national ceramic competition in Faenza, winning, in 1954, the ex aequo prize from the Ravenna Tourism Board. Between 1956 and 1960 he continued his artistic training by completing his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts, also in Florence, under the guidance of Pericle Fazzini and Antonio Berti. Important years especially for the close bond with the master from the Marche Fazzini. After him, in fact, with the exception of Xanti Schawinsky, he did not have significant relationships with other artists who were his contemporaries. "I had a very good relationship with Fazzini because he had total respect for me." His teacher – Salvatore recalls – hated those who slavishly copied his work or that of others and, therefore, left great freedom of expression. "He really liked that world of mine at the time, between dream and reality." They had many discussions on art and the teachings he drew from it regarding sculptural technique, without, however, Salvatore's works being affected by his influence. His first production, in fact, was much closer to the lesson of ancient art: primitive art, the Egyptians, the Hittites, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the statuettes of Tanagra, the Etruscan suggestions, the figures of archaic Greece up to to arrive at the Middle Ages and Giovanni Pisano. Influences that will remain a constant in his sculptures. During the Academy, in addition to producing works for exhibitions, he also worked for ceramic factories. In 1963, however, when he decided to marry Adriana - who would later give him two sons, Pino and Gianni -, he chose to dedicate himself to teaching which allowed him to have more time for his artistic creations and research. As a student, he will thus rise to the chair of the Porta Romana Institute where he will remain for thirty years. Sculpture, ceramics, painting and graphics, Salvatore has always been an all-round artist who has experimented with any technique and material: from stoneware, to porcelain, to majolica, to alabaster, to metal, to copper, to glass, to wood. "I would like to merge all the experiences into one, mix everything as I do with the earths, with the glazes, to obtain a new one but with a strong cultural substrate". Since 1960 he began the long series of his exhibitions which touch many Italian provinces from north to south including Milan, Stresa, Brescia, Padua, Vicenza, Catania, Ragusa, Stia, Genoa, Savona, La Spezia, Bologna, Rome, Lecce, Taranto , Reggio Calabria, Assisi, Trento, Turin, Benevento and almost all the most important cities and capitals of Tuscany. Among the solo exhibitions we remember: Salone Rinascita in Sesto Fiorentino (1960), Vannucci Modern Art Gallery in Pistoia (1963), Palazzo Ghibellino in Empoli (1967), Elicona Art Gallery in Lecce (1968), Modern Art Gallery "Il Tridente" in Grosseto (1969), "Il Brandale" Art Gallery in Savona (1970), Civic Museum of Bologna (1973), Municipal Gallery of Contemporary Art in Arezzo (1983), Circolo Nuova Italsider in Taranto ( 1985), Reggio Calabria Ceramics Biennial (1986), Palazzo Novellucci in Prato (1988), Kurhaus in Merano (2000), the exhibitions in Florence at the Fortezza da Basso (1994) and at the Galleria dell'Accademia delle Arti e del Disegno (1999), the exhibition within the museum complex of Santa Maria alla Scala in Siena (2004). Among the group exhibitions, the participations in the ceramic competitions of Faenza (1954-59) and Vicenza (1955), the sculpture biennials of Arese (1976), Comiso (1977), Stia (1978 and 1986), Rho (1978) are significant. ), Gallarate (1979), and at the ceramic biennials of Montecatini (1979-84) and Caltagirone (1984). In his happy career, Salvatore has often represented Italy by exhibiting - always by invitation - at sculpture exhibitions organized by our country or by the Ceramics Museum of Faenza, at international public venues. In 1962 it was hosted in Berlin, in 1963 in Paris, in 1968 in Munich, in 1973 in Hamburg. In 1978 he was then invited by the Quadrennial of Modern Art in Rome to participate in the Biennial of Small Sculpture in Budapest. Exhibitions followed in 1992 at the National Ceramic Museum of the Republic of China in Taiwan and, in 1996, in Argentina, first at the Museo Municipal de Arte Moderno in Mendoza then at the Museo Provinciales Augustin Gnecco Frankin Rawson in San Juan. Among the first personal exhibitions at an international level, a special memory goes to the one held in 1974 at the "Muesterberg" Gallery of Modern Art in Basel: on that occasion Salvatore was able to meet Xanti Schawinsky, one of the great masters of the Bauhaus, a student by Oskar Schlemmer and then master of Max Bill. A friendship that left a profound mark on his life as a man and an artist. Also important were the exhibitions held in Stuttgart (1975), Aubervillier (1978) and Antwerp (1996). His sculptures have been purchased by private collectors in the United States and Japan, but also by foreign museums such as the National Museum of Athens and that of Taiwan, the largest ceramic museum in China. His works are also present in many Italian public venues: International Ceramics Museum of Faenza, Vicenza Ceramics Museum, Museum of the winning works at the Gualdo Tadino International Competition, Museum of Castelli and Cervia, Municipal Gallery of Contemporary Art of Arezzo and of Stia, the Pinacoteca of Empoli, the National Museum of Contemporary Art Pro-Civitate Christiana of Assisi, and the Emperor's Castle of Prato (5 sculptures with which Salvatore retraces the history of Frederick II). His fervent creativity was able to be released and expressed in large spaces also thanks to the creation of large public projects. In 1960, coming first in the Borgo San Lorenzo sculpture competition, he was able to allocate the winning panel to the town's elementary school and, in 1979, to place another stoneware work on the façade of the middle school. Also suggestive are the street furniture in painted stoneware, created between 1991 and 1992, for the Pontedera shopping center and for the garden of the elementary schools of Montespertoli, the latter entitled "The arch and the shadow". Certainly the recognition dearest to him came from the creation, in 1993, of a monument for his hometown: Salvatore was able to furnish Piazza Aldo Moro in Mirabella Imbaccari with a large stele, dedicated to the theme of peace and war, surrounding it of benches and tubs in painted stoneware. Another project, which involved the installation of a large arch and benches, was carried out the following year in the Gatta area, also in Mirabella. In 2004 he created a series of works in polychrome and glazed stoneware, including a large basin and a fountain, for the new layout of Piazza Sant'Agostino in Prato. The following year he was called to create another important public work: the Monument to the Fiascaie, located in the square of the same name in Castelfiorentino (Florence), consisting of a large three-sided stele in polychrome and enamelled stoneware. Starting from the mid-1980s, Salvatore also tackled sacred-themed works - although in reality the religious theme had already been addressed towards the end of the 1950s - commissioned by some Tuscan churches. In the Church of San Giuseppe in Prato we can today admire the "Memories of the Passion" (1985), 14 sculptures in glazed stoneware for the Via Crucis, and in the Church of Casole del Monte, near Pistoia, the painted stoneware furnishings of presbytery. On the external facade of the Pastoral Center of Tavola (Prato) stands the work "Resurrection" (1988) in polychrome stoneware while for the interior of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Prato the Sicilian artist created, in 1995, a complete sculptural furnishing in stoneware, wood and glass. In 1996, in the Church of Firenzuola he installed 22 sculptures in glazed stoneware representing the Via Lucis, the four Evangelists, the Prodigal Son, the altar frontal, the large crucifix and the baptismal area. In 2000 he created the large lunette for the 12th century parish church. of Borgo San Lorenzo.
