Onorio Ruotolo
Encyclopedia
A sculptor and poet, Onorio Ruotolo (1888–1966) was born in Cervinara, Italy.
He studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Naples and emigrated to the United States in 1908. The struggle and poverty he observed in New York City engendered in him a concern for society, which he expressed in cartoons, poetry, and sculpture. During World War I, he produced a number of sculptures showing the horrors of war. In 1914, he and Arturo Giovannitti became co-directors of Il Fuoco, a magazine of art and politics. After an ideological split, Ruotolo began Minosse, a socio-literary publication. In 1923 Ruotolo founded the Leonardo da Vinci Art School
on Manhattan's Lower East Side. The school was created to provide arts education for New York's immigrant community, and it remained in operation for almost twenty years. In 1924 Isamu Noguchi
took his first sculpture class at the Leonardo da Vinci Art School, and Noguchi began his artistic career with the academic sculpture that he created as Ruotolo's protege. Ruotolo was most well known for his portrait sculpture, including busts of Caruso, Arturo Toscannini, Thomas Edison, Theodore Dreiser and Helen Keller. In addition to his career as sculptor and teacher, Ruotolo also was a critic, editor, poet, illustrator and cartoonist (nom de plume: Bayard).
In the 1940s and 1960s, he turned his efforts to poetry and prose, and from 1950-1957 served as an aide of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America.
He was first cousin to the first Italian Buddhist monk, Lokanatha
.
He studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Naples and emigrated to the United States in 1908. The struggle and poverty he observed in New York City engendered in him a concern for society, which he expressed in cartoons, poetry, and sculpture. During World War I, he produced a number of sculptures showing the horrors of war. In 1914, he and Arturo Giovannitti became co-directors of Il Fuoco, a magazine of art and politics. After an ideological split, Ruotolo began Minosse, a socio-literary publication. In 1923 Ruotolo founded the Leonardo da Vinci Art School
Leonardo da Vinci Art School
The Leonardo Da Vinci Art School was an art school founded in New York City , whose most famous student was Isamu Noguchi and whose director was sculptor and poet Onorio Ruotolo.-First Decade:...
on Manhattan's Lower East Side. The school was created to provide arts education for New York's immigrant community, and it remained in operation for almost twenty years. In 1924 Isamu Noguchi
Isamu Noguchi
was a prominent Japanese American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public works, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several mass-produced lamps and furniture pieces,...
took his first sculpture class at the Leonardo da Vinci Art School, and Noguchi began his artistic career with the academic sculpture that he created as Ruotolo's protege. Ruotolo was most well known for his portrait sculpture, including busts of Caruso, Arturo Toscannini, Thomas Edison, Theodore Dreiser and Helen Keller. In addition to his career as sculptor and teacher, Ruotolo also was a critic, editor, poet, illustrator and cartoonist (nom de plume: Bayard).
In the 1940s and 1960s, he turned his efforts to poetry and prose, and from 1950-1957 served as an aide of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America.
He was first cousin to the first Italian Buddhist monk, Lokanatha
Lokanatha (Italian Buddhist Monk)
Lokanatha was an Italian Buddhist missionary.Lokanatha was born near Naples, Italy in 1897 in the celebrated family of Cioffi and given the name of Salvatore, meaning the Savior. Brought up in an atmosphere of culture, he was a talented violinist. He studied chemistry and received his B.Sc. at The...
.