Exhibition Visit: Antonio Sciortino

Antonio Sciortino

Date when visited the Exhibition: 8th April,2013.
Name: Shades of white, German Circle.

Antonio Sciortino was born in Haz-Zebbug Malta, on the 25th of January 1879 and died on the 10th of August in 1947. Sciortino was a Maltese Sculptor which in his work he reflects a lot of artistic movements, which include Realism and Futurism, which also include the influences of Auguste Rodin. Sciotino died his studies and worked in Rome. Antonio Sciortino had developed an original style in which it drew the admiration of many and brought Sciotino commissions in Russia, Brazil and also in the USA. Sciortino was also a director in the Accademia Britannia in Rome, at the time of 1911 and ended in 1936, and from the year of the 1937 onwards, till he passed away he was a curator in the Malta Museum of Fine Arts. Sciortino from his childhood he showed a trend towards sculpture, and Sciortino's aunt Vittorine Sciortino encouraged him to follow his tendency. Another artist, Lazzaro Pisani who was an established painter in Malta, also showed Sciortino encouragement. The road that led him to be what he is, is with the encouragements he had from other people, this led him to enroll in the School of Art in Valletta in which he continued to study for two years. The strickland family helped  Sciortino to obtain a government grant attend of a course in Rome, in which at the age of twenty two Sciortino went to continue his studies in Art. 

In Rome, Sciortino continue to study in the Istituto Reale di Belle Arti, in which at that institute he continued to study for two more years, in which he studied engineering and monumental architecture. Right after he earned his diploma with distinctions, Sciortino himself opened up an art studio in via Margutta 33 in the centre of the Roman artistic tradition. In this studio Sciortino came up with the idea to free himself from the copying tradition and develope a more personal and unique style. The Philosopheris a group of work of artistic study in which Sciortino gained a reputation as an original and unique artist and he drew attention to many critics. The sculpture of Testa di Vecchio, was shown in an Exhibition of the name Promotrice di Roma. Along was the statue Studio di Donna, Sciortino removed the prevailinghabit of showing the female figure, with the way of being inspired by the Greeks. Sciortino at that time also worked on the Staute of Les Gavroches, this was the work that continued to move in good direction his reputation. He represented three poor children, the bronze statue was inspired by the Victor Hugo novel Les Miserables, which in the staute Sciortino shows the living life of three poor street urchins who are currently living in the streets of Paris at the time of the French Revolution in 1848. The statue Les Gavroches was than shipped and brought to Malta in 1907 and was mentioned to Sciortino's first official masterpiece. The mould of the statue is now found in Buckingham Palace, in which the maltese government gave to Princess Elisabeth as a gift in the official name of the Maltese people when she came to visit the Maletese island at the time of the 1951.


Some of the work that was exhibited:

Referencing:

• Photo(s) taken at the Exhibition.
• Antonio Sciortino - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2013. Antonio Sciortino - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Sciortino. [Accessed 08 April 2013].