Beethoven bust. Bronze signed Alfredo Pina, milanese sculptor (1883-1966).
Brown-green patina Bronze sculpture signed Alfredo PINA (1887-1966)
Lost wax with stamp « A.G.PARIS” for Adolphe Gruet
Height : 21.7 inches Width : 7.5 inches
Yellow marble base, 7.9 x 7.9 inches
This sculpture of a Beethoven bust is remarkable in the treatment of hair, upper garments and face of Beethoven.
Alfredo Pina was a student of the Brera in Milan, the famous Academy of Fine Arts, where he received the national sculpture big prize in 1904.
He moved to Paris when he was 24, where he exhibited at the Salon of French Artists from 1911 to 1914, and enjoyed great success.
After the war he moved to Montparnasse, where he mingled with Zadkine, Bourdelle and Giacometti. But his work is mostly influenced by Auguste Rodin, with whom he studied. In this portrait, they both focused on highlighting the thrilling moments of life. They created on the surface of their sculptures multiple facets which played on light and restored the characters’ expressions of emotion and fear.
In 1920, Pina exhibited at the Allard Gallery in Paris.
Some of his work can be found in museum collections : the Beethoven Museum in Montpellier and Venice, the Wagner Museum in Berlin, Head of Christ, at the Vatican Museum.
During the war he settled in the Nièvre region in central France, where he continued to work till he died in 1966.
Most of his work is exhibited at the Museum of the Charité sur Loire, one of his sculptures is at the Rodin Museum, another at the Bourdelle Museum in Paris.
The Adolphe Gruet foundry is known to have worked for Rodin and especially for melting "The Kiss" by Rodin between 1891 and 1895.
