20th-century Italian sculptors

Arnaldo_Pomodoro

Arnaldo Pomodoro (born 23 June 1926) is an Italian sculptor. He was born in Morciano, Romagna, and lives and works in Milan. His brother, Giò Pomodoro (1930–2002) was also a sculptor.
Pomodoro designed a controversial fiberglass crucifix for the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The piece is topped with a fourteen-foot diameter crown of thorns which hovers over the figure of Christ.
Some of Pomodoro's Sphere Within Sphere (Sfera con Sfera) can be seen in the Vatican Museums, Trinity College, Dublin, the United Nations Headquarters and Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, the de Young Museum in San Francisco, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, American Republic Insurance Company in Des Moines, Iowa, the Columbus Museum of Art in Columbus, Ohio, the University of California, Berkeley, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia, Stanford University, and the Tel Aviv University, Israel.

Berto_Lardera

Roberto Lardera (December 18, 1911 – February 23, 1989), informally known as Berto Lardera, was an Italian sculptor of the 20th century. He was born in La Spezia, Italy, the son of a naval engineer. He was self-taught and his leanings towards monumental, metallic sculptures may have been influenced by the sights he grew up with in the naval dockyards.
In 1947 Lardera moved to Paris, where he remained until his death in 1989. He exhibited at the Galerie Denise René and then at the Salon de Mai and the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles. Lardera's sculpture began with abstract metal structures based on two dimensions, or a flat geometrical plane, which challenged the conventional form of sculpture based around volume and enclosed spaces. Later his work became more diverse, with his geometrical constructions branching out into the horizontal as well as the vertical plane and often resulting in series based on a single theme, such as his Miracles, Aubes and Archanges series.
His sculptures are to be found the world over, in Europe, America and Japan. They show the use of a wide range of different metals, as well as different dimensions. Lardera did not produce very many prints, but his interest in using different planes and dimensions led to him making markedly "sculptural" prints. He used a unique technique, cutting forms and designs with his sculpting tools in thick iron plates from which the prints were pulled. He used no acid or chemical processes.