Medardo Rosso

1858 – 1928

Italian sculptor. In 1870 he moved with his family to Milan, where from 1875 to 1879 he attended the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera. After military service he resumed his studies at the Brera in 1882, but he was expelled the following year for protesting against the traditional teaching methods. During this period, in which he produced his first sculptures, he was in contact with the Milanese literary and artistic avant-garde group Gli Scapigliati, which fostered in him the desire to produce naturalistic art. Rather than traditional historical, literary or allegorical themes, Rosso therefore preferred contemporary subjects: ordinary people and the destitution of modern urban life, which he captured faithfully with photographic accuracy. From 1884 to 1886 he studied with Jules Dalou in Paris where he became familiar with the sculptures of Rodin and the paintings of the Impressionists. His were everyday themes, and he reproduced visual impressions in three dimensions. Rosso modeled primarily in wax and plaster, and continued the dissolution of form in the Impressionist sense. Sculptors of the early 20th century owe him a debt of gratitude for various impulses to creativity.

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