Artist of the day: Artist of the Day, March 24, 2021: Toni Benetton, an Italian sculptor (#1239)

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Artist of the Day, March 24, 2021: Toni Benetton, an Italian sculptor (#1239)

Toni Benetton (1910 –1996) was an Italian sculptor.
His work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., the Museum Beelden aan Zee in Scheveningen, the Hakone Open-Air Museum near Tokyo and the 52nd Venice Biennale in 1986

Toni Benetton is considered one of the leading contemporary sculptors , and is particularly renowned for his work in the field of Monumental Sculpture.

In 1938, he attended sculpture courses at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice under the guidance of Arturo Martini. Although the different materials he used included terracotta, bronze, and plaster of Paris, his favorite means of expression was iron.

During the ‘60s, he kept company with poets Giovanni Comisso, Andrea Zanzotto, Bepi Mazzotti and Carlo Scarpa with whom he established close relationships. In this period, he created large-sized figures, especially of animals, and experimented in his first Environment-Show, positioning them outdoors in the Salomon Gardens in Solighetto (Treviso) and establishing one of Italy’s first outdoor sculpture parks in the process. He then began making cuts into iron plate, in this way allowing light to penetrate the material. In 1964, he represented Italy at the World Art Convention in New York.

In 1967, he founded the International Iron Academy that was attended by artists from the world over. During the ‘70s, he created a series of works entitled Semoventi/Self Propelled, while in the ‘80s he designed Townscapes, monumental sculptures to be inserted in urban contexts. Two of his works were presented at the 42nd Biennial Art Exhibition in Venice, whereas his Townscapes drawings were shown at the personal show given at the 12th International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennial.

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