-alfredo Pina (1887-1966) "the Banana Carrier"

Very fine bronze cast. Dark brown patina with nuances. Signed in the wax "A. Pina" on the base to the right. Lost-wax casting by J. Pannini – Bears the foundry mark on the base at the back "J. Pannini cire perdue Paris". Circa 1925/1930. Height: 49 cm. Width: 20 cm – Depth: 25 cm. Biography: Born in Milan (Italy). After brilliant studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, crowned by the Grand Prix national de sculpture in 1904 – the equivalent of our Prix de Rome, Alfredo Pina stayed three years in Rome, before settling in Paris in 1911. Rodin noticed one of his sculptures, and asked him to join his studio as a practitioner; He remained there until his father's death in 1917. He frequented the circle of Italian artists and became part of the prominent artistic scene in Montparnasse during the 1920s. Supported by the Valsuani foundry, he presented a significant number of works in 1920 at the Galerie Allard. This exhibition was a great success, as was the one organized by the Society of Italian Artists in 1929. Charmed by the Loire Valley landscape in the Nièvre region, he bought a house in Mesves-sur-Loire, then the nearby Malvaux stone quarries, in order to fulfill his commissions for war memorials from the Great War; he created the one in Mesves, which reproduced a bronze sculpture exhibited in 1920, "La Douleur" (The Sorrow). He returned to Paris, then to Italy, where he participated in a universal competition launched by Mussolini, which he won with a design for a Monument to Dante. This would be his magnum opus, but it was never realized. Returning to France in 1929, he stayed in Paris for a while before settling permanently in Mesves with his wife. He participated in exhibitions in Nevers and sculpted busts of friends and acquaintances who were also his patrons. He died in 1966, forgotten by the Parisian art scene, in poverty. The contents of his Mesves studio, acquired by the State, were deposited at the La Charité-sur-Loire museum in 1971. Pina, in both his portraits and monumental sculpture, was clearly influenced by Rodin's themes, but his artistic vocabulary is highly personal. Galerie Paris Manaus