Lugano
Arturo Martini was born in Treviso on August 11, 1889, and is considered one of the most significant figures in Italian art between the two World Wars. A versatile artist, he is best known for his extraordinary sculptures, created using a remarkable variety of materials. After attending the Ceramics School in Faenza, he continued his sculpture studies in Treviso. In 1909, during a stay in Munich, he became a pupil of Adolf von Hildebrand, and two years later moved to Paris, immersing himself in the city’s vibrant artistic atmosphere. After World War I, he joined the Valori Plastici movement, which sought to revive art grounded in classical tradition. During this period, he also taught at the School for Artistic Industries in Monza, contributing to the education of a new generation of artists.
Martini’s work is distinguished by its immediate sculptural impact, boundless inventiveness, and complete mastery of technical processes, whether working with bronze, stone, terracotta, or ceramics. From his early works, marked by a stylized primitivism, his artistic research evolved toward a radical simplification of form, eventually culminating in compact, essential structures of extraordinary expressive power.
Endowed with a refined sense of style, he drew inspiration from diverse historical traditions—archaic, Etruscan, Romanesque, and Baroque—without ever losing the originality of his invention or the vitality of his forms. His small ceramic groups are especially noteworthy for their narrative spirit and strong decorative value. His creativity transcended the limitations of celebratory themes, embracing a classically modern approach that experimented with fragmented rhythms to both define and fracture space. His works are characterized by bold, rugged forms that reject conventional rhetoric and instead merge into sculptural compositions of monumental and intense beauty.
Martini exhibited in many of the most important Italian and international art exhibitions, alongside renowned artists such as Amedeo Modigliani, Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà, and Giorgio De Chirico. In 1931, he won the prestigious first prize for sculpture at the inaugural Rome Quadriennale. He died suddenly in Milan in 1947 at the age of 57, leaving behind a profound and lasting artistic legacy.
