Giuseppe Bessi

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Giuseppe Bessi (* 1857 in Volterra ; † 1922 there ) was an Italian sculptor .

Life

Giuseppe Bessi: Beethoven bust

Bessi studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence . In 1879 he founded his own workshop in Volterra and mainly made busts and statues from alabaster , marble and onyx marble . In addition, he created some bronze statues and statuettes . He was one of the most important representatives of Italian salon sculpture. In his work he combined forms of neoclassicism and art nouveau . Bessi was director at the Art School of Volterra from 1891 to 1910 and taught there until his death. This facility is considered the world's only art school for alabaster art. It was established because natural alabaster has been mined and processed near Volterra since at least the sixth century BC.

The alabaster works of art by Bessi were exhibited and awarded at the world exhibitions in Paris , Turin and St. Louis . His works were sold internationally with great economic success. The sculptures were also delivered to America and were part of numerous private collections, some of which have made the exhibits available to museums. At the beginning of the 20th century, Bessi's sculptures were very popular and replicas were often made. Later works bore the signature " Studio Prof. G. Bessi" . In addition to sculptures, Bessi also designed everyday objects such as chess sets made of alabaster and onyx as well as lamps.

Important museums today have works by Bessi, including the St. Petersburg Hermitage . The largest collection of his works can be found in the Museum of Volterra, the Ecomuseo dell'Alabastro .

A street in Florence was named after him in recognition of his achievements.

Selected Works

  • Girl with a Laurel Wreath, marble 1915, Hermitage
  • Woman with the mirror, marble, Volterra
  • Joan of Arc
  • Beatrice
  • Primo Amore
  • Musician cycle: Brahms , Beethoven , Schubert

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Planet Wissen: Material Alabaster , accessed on July 25, 2014
  2. ↑ Christopher Pollock: Golden Gate Park: San Francisco's Urban Oasis in Vintage Postcards . Arcadia 2003, ISBN 0-7385-2853-6 , p. 37
  3. ↑ Hermitage: Portrait of a girl with a laurel wreath ( Memento of the original from August 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed July 25, 2014  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / hermitagemuseum.org

literature

  • Vincenzo Vicario: Gli scultori italiani dal Neoclassicismo al Liberty , Pomerio 1994
personal data
SURNAME Bessi, Giuseppe
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Besji, Giuseppe
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH 1857
PLACE OF BIRTH Volterra
DATE OF DEATH 1922
Place of death Volterra