Quinto Ghermandi Biography
Quinto Ghermandi (Crevalcore, 28 September 1916 – San Lazzaro di Savena, 18 January 1994) was an Italian sculptor, exponent of informal art. Born in Ronchi di Crevalcore (Bologna) on 28 September 1916 into a family of landowners belonging to the Emilian agrarian bourgeoisie, who had their home in the castle of that hamlet (now owned by the Municipality of Crevalcore), he discovered his vocation for the sculpture. At five years old, his favorite game was making objects with clay, a material that he obtained from a brick kiln located inside the family estate. But the decision to become an artist matured in him when, still a child, he attended the inauguration of the monument to the fallen of the First World War with his father and was "struck" at the sight of the sculptural complex. He trained first at the artistic high school in Bologna with Cleto Tomba, then studied at the school of Ercole Drei, at the Academy of Fine Arts in the capital, where he obtained a diploma in sculpture in 1940. He took part in the Second World War, first as a sharpshooter in Greece, then as a paratrooper in Egypt, where he took part in the Battle of El Alamein. He is captured by British troops and remains a prisoner for four years in a concentration camp in the desert. After 8 September 1943 he refused to collaborate with the Anglo-Americans - who, out of loyalty to his soldier's oath, he still considered his enemies - and was only freed in 1946. In those years he had the opportunity to get to know, through British magazines, the the work of Pablo Picasso and Henry Moore. Returning from prison, he began his artistic activity by creating small terracotta sculptures, then experimented with ceramics and welded iron. He also begins to exhibit his works. In 1952 he participated in the XXVI Venice Biennale. His first approach to bronze (lost wax casting technique), a material that will allow him to fully express his talent, took place in 1958 thanks to the intuition of the building entrepreneur Giona Baldisserra, his great friend and patron, who commissioned him a series of sculptures depicting animals for his park, to be made in bronze. In that same year he won the Bologna Prize. The following year he obtained the Carrara sculpture prize and won, together with Lynn Chadwick, the international Bronzetto prize in Padua. It is now present in all the most important national and international art events. In 1962 he participated, together with the most important international sculptors of the time, in the Sculptures in the City exhibition organized by Giovanni Carandente as part of the V Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto. He presents two bronze sculptures: The Tree of Fear from 1959 and The Eclipse from 1962. He takes part in the XXX Venice Biennale in 1960 and then in the XXXIII in 1966. In 1965 he participates in the IX Quadrennial of Rome with personal rooms. Throughout the sixties there was a succession of personal exhibitions and participation in all the major sculpture exhibitions organized in Europe, the United States, Japan, Brazil, New Zealand, Iran and Egypt. In 1964 he presented a group of works at the documentary III exhibition in Kassel. In 1967 and 1969 he won the sculpture prize at the Fiorino d'Oro in Florence. His works are present in public and private collections in Europe, especially in Scandinavia, the United States and Latin America; numerous public monuments and fountains have been created all over the world. The Museo Novecento in Florence displays the work Riccione from 1965. He held the chair of sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence and then in Bologna, where, from 1981 to 1984, he also held the position of director. Married to the painter Romana Spinelli (who passed away on 5 August 2013), Quinto Ghermandi had three children: Cristina (died in 1993), Francesca (famous cartoonist and illustrator) and Martino (publisher). He died in Bologna on 18 January 1994.
