Michele Guerrisi (Cittanova 1893 – Rome 1963)
Donna inginocchiata
1938
bronze
cm 105

This sculpture, together with Figura per Fontana [“Figure for the Fountain”] of 1935, was for a time used to decorate the Palazzo Toro in Turin’s Via Arcivescovado, one of the crown jewels of Studio Decker, a leading light of post-war architecture.

Sculptor, art critic, and a man of profound culture, Michele Guerrisi graduated with a degree in literature from the Università di Napoli, while at the same time pursuing a diploma in sculpture at the Accademia di Belle Arti of Rome.

He taught history of art at Turin’s Accademia Albertina, and from 1946 onwards he was the chair of sculpture at the Accademia di Belle Arti of Rome.

A renowned sculptor with an eye for plastica romana, to such an extent that he became known as “the voice of his beloved Magna Graecia”, he exhibited his works in various national and international collectives.

His works can be found in various Italian museums and in numerous private collections. The creator behind various public monuments, most of which evoke the Great War, and particularly in the Campania region, Guerrisi was also the author of books on art history and critique that are considered among the most important and anti-conformist of their time.

In 1960, the municipality of Palmi (Reggio Calabria) inaugurated the “M. Guerrisi” plaster cast gallery that preserves his sculptures, oil paintings, watercolours and works in plaster, which includes the work in question.