MARTINI, ARTURO. – Sculptor, born in Treviso on 11 August 1899, died in Milan on 22 March 1947. After studying at the school of the sculptor Carlini in Treviso and at that of Urbano Nono in Venice, he went to Munich to study under Adolfo Hildebrand. In 1921 he took part in the movement of the valori plastici, and four years later held his first solo exhibition in Milan.
At the 1st Roman Quadriennale of 1931 he received the national prize for sculpture, and at the 18th International Biennale of Venice (1932) the most extensive Italian and foreign recognition. In 1929 he accepted a teaching post at the Istituto superiore per le industrie artistiche at the Villa reale in Monza and, in his final years (1942), the chair of sculpture at the Accademia di belle arti in Venice. Having overcome naturalism, M. represents, after Medardo Rosso, the most noteworthy and vital voice of the early Italian twentieth century: his experiments and achievements, expressed in a new language that is daring and traditional, popular and artistic, are evident in Sposa felice (1929), Il pastore (1930), La lupa (1931), La convalescente (1932), Il Tobiolo (1934), Donna che nuota sott'acqua (1941), Tito Livio (1942). In his sculptures there is sometimes something like an elementary idea; at other times, a character explored to the point of attaining an almost awkward yet psychologically truthful humor; at still other times, the analytical study of formal beauty; often, a violent predominance of matter or a remote dream of prehistoric ages; always, an elegiac and highly personal musical rhythm. Concerning Christian art and his own art, M. wrote: « Christ represents for us the greatest and most expressive figure. The total vision of being is established with the Incarnation; with Christ, expression is born for us, that is, the antithesis of Greek Olympianism.
« As a Christian I feel that my world begins with the Nativity scene: on that day the most enchanting and mysterious tale was born. In Christianity I represent the most vital part of myself. In the presence of the religious subject, artists themselves become characters in the sacred world ». Among his works on sacred subjects, the following should be remembered: in ceramics: La Giuditta, La fuga in Egitto, S. Sebastiano; in terracotta: La Via Crucis, La Deposizione, Adamo ed Eva, La cacciata dal Paradiso Terrestre; in wood: S. Giacomo apostolo for the church of the same name at Vago Veronese; in bronze: Tobiolo, and S. Cuore for the church of Cristo Re in Rome. Within a formal solidity and a fullness of spiritual life, M. modelled the great allegorical bas-reliefs: La giustizia corporativa for the Palazzo di Giustizia of Milan
and, for the Milanese arengario, L'Editto di Costantino, S. Ambrogio, S. Carlo comunica gli appestati, Gli Sforza e i Visconti. In Figliol prodigo (1926, Acqui, Ospizio Ottolenghi), perhaps his masterpiece, he wished to introduce an autobiographical accent; in Fondazione dell'Ospedale del Perdono di Milano (1939, there, Ospedale Maggiore), he defined the character of his sculptural narratives.
MARTINI, ARTURO - St. Carlo Borromeo in the act of giving Communion to plague victims. Milan, Arengario.