Biography
Born in Bergamo, Manzù (Giacomo Manzoni) (1908-1991) was apprenticed to various craftsmen and carpenters from an early age. Settling in Milan in 1930, he received his first important commission when he was asked to decorate the chapel of the Catholic University by the architect Giovanni Muzio (1931-32).Religious imagery was to occupy an important position within his oeuvre throughout his career. The work of Medardo Rosso was a key influence on his style, and is especially evident in his portraiture, where the fleeting expressions of his sitters are captured with an extraordinary sensitivity, freshness and spontaneity. In the late 1930s Manzù began his famous series of Cardinals, sculpting these figures enveloped in their liturgical vestments, the simplicity of their conical forms imbuing them with a profound sense of monumentality.During the war years Manzù produced a series of Crucifixions and Depositions that reflected the suffering of the times. In 1952 he was commissioned to create a set of monumental doors for St Peter's in Rome, a project that occupied him for the next twelve years. The resulting Portal of Death features episodes from the life of Christ and images of death in war.
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