Andrea Spadini Biography
He began his education alongside his father Armando Spadini (1883 - 1925) who led him, at a very young age, to discover the masterpieces of the Borghese Gallery. Here the taste for the dynamism of Bernini's baroque sculpture must have crept into him, and therefore he assimilated the movements and agitation of the movement in his works, beyond the fashions and artistic trends typical of the fifties and sixties. He began to dedicate himself to sculpture in Florence at a very young age, at the school of Libero Andreotti. He was then assistant at the Art Institute of Monza of the great artist Arturo Martini. In 1929 he exhibited at the Circolo di Roma in Palazzo Doria with, among others, Bandinelli, Ceracchini, di Cocco, Mafai and Scipione. In Rome he attended the Medaglia art school with Giuseppe Romagnoli and the Scuola Libera del Nudo. In recent years his graphic work was influenced by Mario Mafai and Scipione; he frequented Capogrossi and Cavalli, who often portrayed him in their paintings. Since 1935 he has exhibited at the Rome Quadrennial (Second Quadrennial of National Art, III Quadrennial of National Art, IV Quadrennial of National Art, National Exhibition of Figurative Arts [V Quadrennial], VIII National Quadrennial of Art of Rome, IX Quadrennial National Art Institute of Rome). He is especially interested in portraits, which reveal an aspiration to the purity of plastic form. He began his career working for the E 42 and for the Italian Pavilion of the Universal Exhibition in New York in 1939. During the war he was a sergeant of the Engineers, joined the Resistance and was among the defenders of Porta San Paolo on 10 September 1943 After the war, together with his friend Fabrizio Clerici, he was present in Venice for the decorations of Villa Cicogna. The first works of greater imagination were created for the historic Galleria L'Obelisco by Gaspero Del Corso and Irene Brin, ceramic works of various subjects, obelisks and animals modeled with panache and elegance: "It is extraordinary to see how Spadini (who as a ceramist takes the pseudonym of Lo Spada) plays on the relationship between technique and theme and boldly renews the great tradition of eighteenth-century ceramics, especially that of French and Austrian manufactures” (Lorenza Trucchi, 1989). In the 1950s Andrea Spadini was the owner of the company for the production of artistic ceramics "Spadini" in the laboratories of Piazza Santi Apostoli 53 in Rome. Spadini's ceramics, especially between the 1950s and 1970s, immediately conquered a demanding public both in Italy and in America due to their originality. Andrea Spadini's relationship with the States was due to one of his collectors (with a passion for monkeys), Count Lanfranco Rasponi (1914-1983), "man of the world", as they once said, with multiple interests, music opera, art, writing, extensive international social relations, owner for a certain period of the Sagittarius Gallery, in New York, where Spadini's first exhibition in America was held in 1956. From the success of this exhibition, the sculptor also presented his works in 1960 at Tiffany & Co. in the elegant Fifth Avenue of New York, which were much appreciated by Hollywood stars, such as Lauren Bacall, Henry Fonda, Douglas Fairbanks jr.; also in New York, the bronze sculptures of playing and dancing animals from 1964-1965 should be remembered: monkey, goat, hippopotamus, elephant, penguin which decorate and animate the large Musical Clock commissioned by the wealthy American publisher George Delacorte (1894-1991) , located at the entrance to the Central Park Zoo, in Manhattan. Musical Clock of the Central Park Zoo (1964 - 1965) Even in Italy, the artist Spadini was appreciated by famous figures of cinema, fashion and society, including Alberto Sordi, the stylists Alberto Fabiani and Simonetta Colonna di Cesarò, of for which he modeled an original, very elegant glazed ceramic, Leda and the Swan, 1959, and four stone sculptures representing the tailor, his wife, his son and his daughter. The main characteristics of his sculptures are the playfulness and sense of humor that permeate his work and the technique used. From the 1950s to the 1970s he taught at the artistic high school in Via Ripetta and at the Scuola Libera del Nudo in Rome. Andrea Spadini died in Rome on 4 September 1983.
