Exhibited: Chicago and Denver, The Art Institute of Chicago and The Denver Art Museum, Chiseled With A Brush, Italian Sculpture from 1860 – 1925 From the Gilgore Collection, 14 May 1994 – 29 January 1995

Carved in around 1886, this extraordinary marble bust of Anna Gemito - the artist’s muse and (later) wife - is one of the pinnacles of Italian modern sculpture. One of only a handful of marbles carved by the artist, this bust is striking both for its modernity and humanity. With it, Gemito has broken with 19th century stylistic conventions of classical idealization and has, instead, imbued his block of marble with a rarely-seen-before psychological intensity: here we see the face of the person the artist loved and who loved him unconditionally in return despite his many periods of profound emotional turmoil.

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