Giò Pomodoro

Giorgio Pomodoro was born in Orciano di Pesaro in 1930 and died in Milan in 2002. Giò Pomodoro was the younger brother of the sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro. After moving to Milan with his family in 1954, he pursued artistic work in goldsmithing with his brother. From 1953, he made jewellery using an old method: gold was cast in hollowed-out cuttlefish bones, which served as negative moulds. In Milan, the brothers exhibited under the name Studio 3P at Galerie Numero in Florence and Galerie Montenapoleone in Milan, and took part in the 10th Milan Triennale.

Invited to the 28th Venice Biennale in 1956, Pomodoro showed silver reliefs dedicated to Ezra Pound, laid on painted fabrics or fixed to specially shaped wooden supports. That same year, he began making larger-scale sculptures in bronze and lead. In these works, the signs were arranged more regularly and evoked vegetal or mineral forms. In 1957, he took part in the Milan Triennale again and began writing for the avant-garde journal Il Gesto. The series Fluidità contrapposta, begun in 1958, marked a new phase in his work; he presented it at documenta 2 in Kassel in 1959.

In the early 1960s, he applied this exploration to marble, polishing its surfaces finely. These works generally incorporate empty spaces through which light can enter. Tate Gallery in London acquired One, a 1960 bronze belonging to the series Superfici in tensione. La grande crola, a 1964 bronze, was acquired by the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome, while Grande Ghibellina joined the Nelson Rockefeller collection in New York. His artistic collaboration with Arnaldo ended in 1964; the brothers exhibited together for the last time at the 32nd Venice Biennale. Pomodoro also worked for the opera stage: in 1978 he created the sets for Verdi’s La Force du destin, staged at the Verona Arena, and later contributed to the stage design for Mozart’s La Flûte enchantée, presented at La Fenice in Venice in 1980.

Works recorded at auction

Germann

Magic square, 1982

Watercolour, mixed media and collage on paper.

Original catalogue wording

Quadrato magico, 1982
Aquarell, Mischtechnik und Collage auf Papier.

Date to be documented

Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed

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