Giuseppe Scalvini Biography
Giuseppe Scalvini was born in Milan in 1908. The son of a plasterer, Scalvini attended evening courses at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts as his father's young apprentice. In 1930, he managed to open his own studio and devoted himself exclusively to sculpture. The following year, Scalvini exhibited for the first time in Milan and in 1937, thanks to a prize awarded to him by Permanente, he had the opportunity to travel to Paris where he was struck by the imposing novelty of Picasso's Guernica.
The definitive recognition of his artistic value came with the double invitation to the Venice Biennials of 1948 and 1954. In the post-war period, Scalvini joined the Milanese group called 15 Borgonovo, subsequently joining the realist movement of the 1950s, from which the famous work Mondina che rest, from 1952. Subsequently, he preferred a more personal path, with a poetics based on essentiality, carefully focused on the description of the "little miseries of man", which allowed him to pass through the various fashions of the world unscathed moment and to consolidate its position within the panorama of contemporary Italian sculpture.
As evidence of his particular bond with Brianza, his works remain present in the churches of Verano, Giussano and Desio. Even more significant, the recent decision - taken at the age of 93 - to donate a collection of 35 statues to the city of Desio. These are now kept in the prestigious Villa Tittoni Traversi, and preserved in their integrity, far from any type of commercial logic, just as Scalvini desired.
Furthermore, the green ceramic tondo depicting Saint Francis is an example of Scalvini's talent in creating harmonious rhythms and volumes without losing expression and expressive power.
