Leonardo Bistolfi Biography
Leonardo Bistolfi (1859 - 1933) was an Italian sculptor and politician, an important exponent of Italian symbolism. Son of Giovanni Bistolfi, also a sculptor, in 1876 he enrolled at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, thanks to a scholarship from the Municipality, where his teacher was Giosuè Argenti. In 1880 he attended Odoardo Tabacchi's courses at the Accademia Albertina in Turin. In 1885 he was affiliated with Freemasonry at the "Dante Alighieri" lodge in Turin and several of his works highlight esoteric symbolism. The first works (The Washerwomen, Sunset, Vespero, Boaro, The Lovers), performed between 1880 and 1885, were influenced by the Milanese Scapigliatura. In 1882 he created The Angel of Death for the Brayda tomb in the Monumental Cemetery of Turin, moving towards Symbolism which he would never abandon. In 1926 he took care of the high reliefs present in the monument to the fallen of Sartirana Lomellina and Correggio. In 1928 he completed his mature masterpieces including the Monument to Giosuè Carducci next to the historic building of Casa Carducci in Bologna, the bronze monument of Giuseppe Garibaldi on horseback placed in the center of the gardens of the Seaside Extension of Savona and the Monument to the Fallen for Casale Monferrato. The most recent studies are appropriately re-evaluating his most recent works, some of which were conceptualized decades earlier, in relation to the evolution of twentieth-century sculpture in Italy as they exhibit a unique visionary energy. However, they were not well received by the intellectuals of the time, who were now more interested in twentieth-century poetics. Arturo Martini, sculptor, had positive memories of Bistolfi throughout his life, while the criticism of Ardengo Soffici, in particular, did not help his future fame. A decline in interest in his fame as a sculptor was caused by the spread of "bistolfism", or the work of numerous imitators of his late liberty poetics without the high intellectual qualities of the master. This has been overturned in the last 20 years by a renewed commitment by critics and art historians to re-evaluate his work, including in the fields of painting, poetry and art criticism.
