Beschreibung:

Arnaldo Pomodoro (Italian, b.1926): A plated mounted wooden trinket box and coverof rectangular form, the cover with applied plated mounted abstract decoration, the underside of the cover signed Arnaldo Pomodoro 5cm high, 14cm wide, 11cm deepFootnotesBorn in Morciano, in the Italian region of Emilia Romagna, the young Arnaldo Pomodoro originally trained as a stage designer and goldsmith whilst earning a living as a consultant on the restoration of public buildings. In 1954 he moved to Milan where he began to move in avant-garde circles getting to know many artists, most importantly Lucio Fontana whom Pomodoro credits with first inspiring his creativity, describing him recently as something of a father figure. Within a year of arriving in the city, Pomodoro's work was being exhibited in the renowned Galleria del Naviglio, a centre for Milan's vibrant artistic community with an international reputation. Pomodoro's travels during the late 1950s were to prove vitally important to the evolution of his practice. In 1956 he reached New York, visiting museums and galleries there, as well as fraternising with the city's many artists. In the years that followed he visited America numerous times, also organizing exhibitions of contemporary Italian art at the Bolles Gallery in New York and San Francisco. Since the 1960s he has become an icon of Italian contemporary art and is now recognised around the world, and as well as being held in the collections of many major museums. His large-scale sculptures are sited in public spaces across the globe including Amalienborg Square in Copenhagen (1982–83), the Belvedere Fortress in Florence (1984), the Cortile della Pigna in Vatican City (1989–90), the United Nations Plaza in New York (1996) and the Palais Royal in Paris (2002) Still living and working in Milan, his position as director of the Fondazione Pomodoro over the last two decades has allowed him to promote the exhibition and funding of numerous artists, and also secured his own artistic legacy.