Costantino Nivola

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Costantino (Tino) Nivola (born July 5, 1911 in Orani , Sardinia , † May 5, 1988 in East Hampton , New York ) was a Sardinian artist who in 1939 with his wife Ruth (née Guggenheim) from persecution by the fascists fled from Italy to the USA. In 1990 a museum was built in Orani in honor of Nivola.

Life

Nivola was born on July 5, 1911, the fifth of ten children to a bricklayer in the small town of Orani in Sardinia. As a boy, Nivola worked with his father and brothers after school. At the age of 15 he became assistant to the Sardinian painter Mario Delitala and worked with him on the design of the auditorium at the University of Sassari . In 1931, Nivola took up a scholarship to study painting at the Art School ( Istituto superiore per le industrie artistiche ) in Monza . In 1933 he switched to the recently newly created subject of advertising graphics, where Marcello Nizzoli , Giuseppe Pagano and Marino Marini were among his teachers.

In 1937, Nivola was hired as artistic director of the graphics department in the advertising department at Olivetti .

At the art college, Nivola met his future wife Ruth Guggenheim, who had fled Germany with her family from the Nazis in 1933. Following the enactment of the Italian Race Laws in 1938, his in- laws fled to the United States. During a stay in Paris in 1939, Nivola, who had close ties to Italian exiles and anti-fascists, learned that he was about to be arrested in Italy. He and his wife Ruth then followed their parents to the United States.

In New York, the Nivola couple kept their heads above water by doing odd jobs. At first he spoke no English at all, she spoke little. While Ruth gave up her artistic activity at that time and worked as a nanny, Nivola painted Christmas cards which he sold to New York department stores. Eventually he got a job in the advertising department of the luxury department store Bonwit Teller. Thanks to the regular income, Nivola was able to continue working as a sculptor in various studios in Greenwich Village . Among other things, he shared a studio with Le Corbusier while he was working on the design of the UN building in New York . Nivola had a lifelong friendship with Le Corbusier.

Ruth Guggenheim Nivola became known as a jewelry designer in later years. In addition, she managed her husband's extensive artistic estate until her own death in 2008. Toni and Ruth Nivola had two children together, Pietro (1944-2017) and Claire (* 1947). Claire made a name for herself in the USA as an illustrator and author, Pietro was a recognized political scientist. Pietro's eldest son is actor Alessandro Nivola , who is married to British actress Emily Mortimer .

plant

Nivola invented the technique of cement casting on modeled sand in 1948/49. Together with Bernard Rudofsky , Nivola built an experimental residential garden on Long Island in 1949. In 1950 he had an exhibition in New York . In 1953 he decorated the Olivetti showroom in New York. In 1954 he erected the Quattro Cappellani memorial in Washington . Now playing Hartford , he designed in 1957, the facade of the seat of Hartford Mutual Insurance Company. In 1958 he took part in an exhibition organized by the Architectural League (New York). Nivola decorated at the McCormick Plaza Exposition Center in Chicago in 1959 . In 1960 he worked with Eero Saarinen on two buildings at Yale University . The Architectural League New York awarded him the silver medal in 1962 for his work as a sculptor. At Columbia University he became a professor in 1962. He erected a memorial for the poet Sebastiano Satta in Nuoro in 1966 .

literature

  • Giuliana Altea: Costantino Nivola. Ilisso, Nuoro 2005
  • Giuliana Altea, Antonella Camarda: Nivola. La sintesi delle arti. Ilisso, Nuoro 2015
  • Carlo Bavagnoli: Costantino Nivola. Ritorno a Itaca. Ilisso, Nuoro 2010
  • Alastair Gordon: Weekend Utopia: Modern Living in the Hamptons. Princeton Architectural Press, 2001
  • Maddalena Mameli: Le Corbusier e Costantino Nivola. New York 1946-1953. Franco Angeli, Milan 2012

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Museo Nivola - Biography. Retrieved May 2, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e Patsy Southgate: Ruth Nivola: Spinning Gold From Yarns. In: The East Hampton Star. June 19, 1997, accessed May 2, 2019 .
  3. ^ Addio a Ruth Guggenheim, musa e compagna di Costantino Nivola. In: La Nuova Sardegna. larepubblica.it, January 18, 2008, accessed May 2, 2019 (Italian).
  4. ↑ Isabel Carmichael: Saving a Mural Saved a House. In: The East Hampton Star. June 27, 2012, accessed May 2, 2019 .
  5. ^ Obituary: Pietro S. Nivola. In: The New York Times. legacy.com, April 30, 2017, accessed May 2, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Nivola, Costantino
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nivola, Tino
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian artist
DATE OF BIRTH July 5, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Orani , Sardinia
DATE OF DEATH May 5, 1988
Place of death East Hampton , New York