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Alfonso Canciani, Viennese Secession Orientalist Bronze Vase, c. 1910

About the Item

Alfonso Canciani (Italian-Austrian, 1863-1955) was a famous Italian-Austrian sculptor of the period of accession to the Viennese Secession. Son of a stonemason, after a realist period he managed to establish himself as a leading sculptor of the Viennese Secession. In fact, he worked in Vienna, where he had enrolled in 1886 at the Academy of Fine Arts, then at the Higher School of Sculpture and finally at the Special School, where he obtained the Rome prize for the sketch for Dante's Monument. He developed a notable business obtaining important prizes and numerous commissions. First among the sculptors of the Viennese capital, he was invited to join the Association of the Viennese Secession, of which Klimt was magna pars, after the exhibition of Dante's group in 1900 at the Secession exhibition, and obtained the most important Austrian artistic prize, the Kunstlerlpreis. This same work, presented in 1910 in Berlin, at the Great Art Exhibition, also received an important recognition here. He obtained the Rome prize in 1896, exhibited successfully in Munich and in 1899 at the III International Art Exhibition in Venice. In that period he made some statues of saints for the cathedral of Santo Stefano in Vienna, the monument to Wagner, the bust of Nietzsche for the University, the scepter and the gold chain of the University Rector, figures of Italian poets ( Petrarch, Boccaccio, Tasso, Ariosto). He submitted a sketch for the official monument to Empress Elizabeth, which was then built in Austrisn Gföhl and Pula. At the time of his accession to the Secession, he dedicated himself to decorating the facade of the Artaria house in Vienna in collaboration with the architect Max Fabiani. He later abandoned the symbolist decorativism of the Jugendstil for a more concentrated and vigorous style, approaching the Belgian sculptor Constantin Meunier for the theme of work, and preferring to exhibit at the Künstlerhaus. In Vienna, he was generous with advice and help with the Italians and in particular with his fellow citizens (such as the Brazzanese Luigi Visintin, then a university student). After the First World War, he returned to Italy and lived in Friuli, penalized by the fact that the Habsburg Empire had by now disappeared. Instead of large-scale public monuments, he then devoted himself to engraving medals (e.g. for Benedict XV and for the Italian mission in Vienna in 1919) and to designing funeral monuments (examples in Mali Lošinj and Trieste) and portrait busts (of Generals Carlo Caneva and Antonio Baldissera in Udine, sculptures of the War Memorial of Corno di Rosazzo). After all, he had already executed the Bab grave monument in the Döblinger cemetery in Vienna in 1909. He taught in Trieste from 1920 until 1935, at the local school of industrial art, where he had Marcello Mascherini as a student. However, his activity remained remarkable, so much so that in 1940 he received the prize from the Italian Academy of Fine Arts. In particular, small and large statues inspired by the world of work are remembered, which he knew how to recreate with authenticity by identifying himself with the spirit of the workers (e.g. Friulan miner, fire worker, smelters), just as Domenico Rambelli was able to do. Canciani’s dynamic statue by Lanciasassi is placed in the central square of Cormons. Also in Cormons, in the Town Hall building, there is a museum dedicated to Alfonso Canciani, which contains numerous works donated by his daughter on the occasion of an exhibition in honor of her father. The Madonna on the facade of the cathedral of Gorizia is one of his works, as well as under the loggia of the Lionello of Udine the busts of generals Caneva and Baldissera. Other works by him can be found in the Civic Museum in Gorizia and in the Osterreichisches Museum fur Angewandte Kunst in Vienna and in various private collections. Various retrospectives were dedicated to Alfonso Canciani’s art, containing the most manageable works, as well as photos of public monuments.
  • Creator:
    Alfonso Canciani (Sculptor)
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 7.25 in (18.42 cm)Width: 7 in (17.78 cm)Depth: 7 in (17.78 cm)
  • Style:
    Jugendstil (Of the Period)
  • Materials and Techniques:
    Bronze,Cast
  • Place of Origin:
  • Period:
    1910-1919
  • Date of Manufacture:
    circa 1910
  • Condition:
    Wear consistent with age and use. We make our best effort to provide a fair and descriptive condition report. Please examine photos attentively, as they are an integral part of the description. Send us a message to request more details or discuss price.
  • Seller Location:
    New York, NY
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU2819331888472
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