Salvatore Fiume
Encyclopedia
Salvatore Fiume was an Italian
painter
, sculptor, architect
, writer
and stage designer. His works are kept in some of the most important museums in the world, among which the Vatican Museums
, the Hermitage
of Saint Petersburg
, the Museum of Modern Art
of New York
, the Pushkin Museum
of Moscow
and the Galleria d'arte moderna of Milan
.
, Sicily
, in 1915. At the age of sixteen, thanks to his enthusiasm and his passion for art, he won a scholarship to attend the Royal Institute for Book Illustration at Urbino
, where he mastered printing techniques from etching
to lithography
. He ended his studies at the age of twenty-one and moved to Milan
, where he came into contact with intellectuals and artists such as Salvatore Quasimodo
, Dino Buzzati
and Raffaele Carrieri. In 1938, at the age of twenty-three, Fiume moved to Ivrea
, where he became art director
of Tecnica e organizzazione (Technique and Organization), a cultural magazine sponsored and overseen by Adriano Olivetti
; during this time, he wrote his first successful literary work, the novel Viva Gioconda!, published in Milan in 1943 by editor Bianchi-Giovini.
Although the literary circle he attended was stimulating, he wanted to devote himself more to painting, and in 1946 he left Ivrea to settle in a 19th century silk mill in Canzo
, not far away from Como
, where he began an intense and versatile search for pictorial, sculptural and architectural expression. In the same year, in Milan, a set of drawings in tempera
and Indian ink was shown to the art critic Raffaele Carrieri and to the painter and writer Alberto Savinio
, brother of the metaphysical painter Giorgio De Chirico
, who was thrilled.
In 1949 he held his first official exhibition, which included Isole di statue and Città di statue, at the Galleria Borromini in Milan
. It aroused much interest among the critics and resulted in him coming into touch with international cultural and artistic institutions; here works of the painter were bought both by the New York
Museum of Modern Art
's director, Alfred H. Barr Jr., in order to display it in his museum, as well as by the Jucker collection of Milan
. The next year, 1950, he was invited to the Venice Biennale
to exhibit his triptych Isola di statue, which earned him a cover on Life
.
In the same year he was invited by the architect Gio Ponti
to create a large work of 48×3 metres which would be installed in the first class hall of the Andrea Doria
, a famous and elegant ocean liner
sunk in 1956 off Nantucket, Massachusetts
. The big canvas, entitled Le leggende d'Italia, represented an imaginary Renaissance city rich in Italian masterpieces of 15th and 16th century.
In 1949 he was already working on a cycle of ten large paintings, commissioned by the industrialist Bruno Buitoni, Sr., entitled Le avventure, le sventure e le glorie dell'antica Perugia, which he finished in 1952; Fiume's interest in Renaissance
painting, particularly in Piero della Francesca
and Paolo Uccello
can be inferred from these works. In 1953, the New York magazines Life
and Time
commissioned him to do some works depicting an imaginary story of Manhattan
and New York Bay
, envisioned by the painter as statue islands.
A period of contacts, travels and exhibitions around the world began. These travels were very important for Fiume because they helped him gather impressions, sounds, forms and colours of ancient and modern cultures, which increased his artistic personality, providing him the material for a global set of images, but always disciplined by the preponderance of the Mediterranean classical harmony.
In 1962, a hundred pictures of Fiume's toured through several German
museums, including those of Cologne
and Regensburg
. In 1973, the artist went to the Babile valley, in Etiopia, together with his friend, the photographer Walter Mori, where he painted a group of rocks with anticorrosive paints. A full scale model of a section of these rock was made by Fiume for the big anthological exhibition of 1974 at the Palazzo Reale of Milan; this model covered almost all of the big Cariatidi Room. At the same exhibition, the Gioconda Africana, now kept by the Vatican Museums
, was dislpayed for the first time.
In 1975, the Calabria
n village of Fiumefreddo Bruzio
accepted Salvatore Fiume's proposal to beautify the historical centre with some of his works for free. Between 1975 and 1976, the artist painted several walls of the ancient tumble-down castle, and, in 1977, the cupola of the San Rocco chapel. In the 1990s he erected a bronze sculpture in each of the squares of Fiumefreddo with a panoramic view of the sea.
Several exhibitions followed: in 1985 at Castel Sant'Angelo
of Rome
; in 1987 the De Architectura Pingendi exhibition at the Sporting d'Hiver of Monte Carlo
inaugurated by prince Rainier of Monaco
; in 1991 at the Mostra internazionale di architettura in Milan, at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni
; in 1992 at Villa Medici
, seat of Académie de France in Rome. In 1993 Fiume visited the places where Gauguin
had lived in Polynesia
; he also donated one of his paintings to the Gauguin Museum of Tahiti
, in homage to the great French master.
Other elements which attest to the many sides and eclecticism of Salvatore Fiume are the various experiences which he collected during his career as a sensitive interpreter of the world which surrounded him. As a theatrical stage designer, from 1950 to 1960, he was prominent at the Teatro alla Scala of Milan (sets and costumes for La vita breve of Manuel de Falla
), at the Covent Garden
of London
, at the Teatro dell'opera of Rome and at the Teatro Massimo of Palermo
.
As a writer, besides Viva Gioconda! in 1943, he published several novels, many short stories, a comedy, a tragedy and two collections of poems. In particular, his 1994 book entitled Pagine libere ("Free Pages"), three years before his death, presents very personal remarks about life and art. In 1988, his activity as a storyteller, poet and playwright earned him an honorary degree in Modern Letters from the University of Palermo
.
As a sculptor, he made his debut in 1994 with an exhibition for the Galleria Artesanterasmo of Milan, though his beginnings in sculpture in wicker
, ceramics
, bronze
, marble
, resin
and other materials dates back to the 1940s and the strong plastic-architectural interpretation which recurs also in the pictorial production is undeniable. All the same, a series of previous experiences which saw the creation of marble sculptures by professionals based on Fiume's sketches led the artist to skip the intermediary craftsmen and to carry out his own sculptures, from the sketch to the completed work, himself. So, at the age of seventy nine, Fiume personally created remarkably big sculptures, such as Le tre grazie, from the plasticine
model to the final form in painted resin: a considerable commitment which, according to his relatives, contributed to undermine the artist's health. His production includes works in stone
, bronze, resin, wood
and ceramics, some of which are sizeable, as the bronze statue at the European Parliament
of Strasbourg
, the stone groups at the San Raffaele hospitals of Milan and Rome and the bronze group for the Wine Fountain in Marsala
. Another open-air exhibition of his sculptures was held in 1995 at the Centro Allende in La Spezia
.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, sculptor, architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and stage designer. His works are kept in some of the most important museums in the world, among which the Vatican Museums
Vatican Museums
The Vatican Museums , in Viale Vaticano in Rome, inside the Vatican City, are among the greatest museums in the world, since they display works from the immense collection built up by the Roman Catholic Church throughout the centuries, including some of the most renowned classical sculptures and...
, the Hermitage
Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. One of the largest and oldest museums of the world, it was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and has been opened to the public since 1852. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display,...
of Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, the Pushkin Museum
Pushkin Museum
The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts is the largest museum of European art in Moscow, located in Volkhonka street, just opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour....
of Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
and the Galleria d'arte moderna of Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
.
Biography
Salvatore Fiume was born in ComisoComiso
Comiso is an Italian municipality in the Province of Ragusa in Sicily.-Geography:Comiso consists of three boroughs: Comiso, Pedalino, and Quaglio. It lies some 22 km west of Ragusa in the South of Sicily...
, Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, in 1915. At the age of sixteen, thanks to his enthusiasm and his passion for art, he won a scholarship to attend the Royal Institute for Book Illustration at Urbino
Urbino
Urbino is a walled city in the Marche region of Italy, south-west of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially under the patronage of Federico da Montefeltro, duke of Urbino from 1444 to 1482...
, where he mastered printing techniques from etching
Etching
Etching is the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal...
to lithography
Lithography
Lithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface...
. He ended his studies at the age of twenty-one and moved to Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, where he came into contact with intellectuals and artists such as Salvatore Quasimodo
Salvatore Quasimodo
Salvatore Quasimodo was an Italian author and poet. In 1959 he won the Nobel Prize for Literature "for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own times". Along with Giuseppe Ungaretti and Eugenio Montale, he is one of the foremost Italian poets...
, Dino Buzzati
Dino Buzzati
Dino Buzzati-Traverso was an Italian novelist, short story writer, painter and poet, as well as a journalist for Corriere della Sera. His worldwide fame is mostly due to his novel Il deserto dei Tartari, translated into English as The Tartar Steppe.-Life:Buzzati was born at San Pellegrino,...
and Raffaele Carrieri. In 1938, at the age of twenty-three, Fiume moved to Ivrea
Ivrea
Ivrea is a town and comune of the province of Turin in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy. Situated on the road leading to the Aosta Valley , it straddles the Dora Baltea and is regarded as the centre of the Canavese area. Ivrea lies in a basin that, in prehistoric times, formed a great lake...
, where he became art director
Art director
The art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
of Tecnica e organizzazione (Technique and Organization), a cultural magazine sponsored and overseen by Adriano Olivetti
Adriano Olivetti
Adriano Olivetti was an Italian entrepreneur, the son of the founder of Olivetti, Camillo Olivetti....
; during this time, he wrote his first successful literary work, the novel Viva Gioconda!, published in Milan in 1943 by editor Bianchi-Giovini.
Although the literary circle he attended was stimulating, he wanted to devote himself more to painting, and in 1946 he left Ivrea to settle in a 19th century silk mill in Canzo
Canzo
Canzo or Canz is a town and comune in the province of Como, in Lombardy. It has 5,192 citizens and an area of 11.8 km², with a density of 445 humans/km²...
, not far away from Como
Como
Como is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy.It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como....
, where he began an intense and versatile search for pictorial, sculptural and architectural expression. In the same year, in Milan, a set of drawings in tempera
Tempera
Tempera, also known as egg tempera, is a permanent fast-drying painting medium consisting of colored pigment mixed with a water-soluble binder medium . Tempera also refers to the paintings done in this medium. Tempera paintings are very long lasting, and examples from the 1st centuries AD still exist...
and Indian ink was shown to the art critic Raffaele Carrieri and to the painter and writer Alberto Savinio
Alberto Savinio
Alberto Savinio, real name Andrea Francesco Alberto de Chirico was an Italian writer, painter, musician, journalist, essayist, playwright, set designer and composer. He was the younger brother of 'metaphysical' painter Giorgio De Chirico...
, brother of the metaphysical painter Giorgio De Chirico
Giorgio de Chirico
Giorgio de Chirico was a pre-Surrealist and then Surrealist Italian painter born in Volos, Greece, to a Genovese mother and a Sicilian father. He founded the scuola metafisica art movement...
, who was thrilled.
In 1949 he held his first official exhibition, which included Isole di statue and Città di statue, at the Galleria Borromini in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
. It aroused much interest among the critics and resulted in him coming into touch with international cultural and artistic institutions; here works of the painter were bought both by the New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
's director, Alfred H. Barr Jr., in order to display it in his museum, as well as by the Jucker collection of Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
. The next year, 1950, he was invited to the Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
to exhibit his triptych Isola di statue, which earned him a cover on Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
.
In the same year he was invited by the architect Gio Ponti
Giò Ponti
Gio Ponti was one of the most important Italian architects, industrial designers, furniture designers, artists, and publishers of the twentieth century.-Early life:...
to create a large work of 48×3 metres which would be installed in the first class hall of the Andrea Doria
SS Andrea Doria
SS Andrea Doria[p] was an ocean liner for the Italian Line home ported in Genoa, Italy, most famous for its sinking in 1956, when 46 people died. Named after the 16th-century Genoese admiral Andrea Doria, the ship had a gross register tonnage of 29,100 and a capacity of about 1,200 passengers and...
, a famous and elegant ocean liner
Ocean liner
An ocean liner is a ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another along regular long-distance maritime routes according to a schedule. Liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes .Cargo vessels running to a schedule are sometimes referred to as...
sunk in 1956 off Nantucket, Massachusetts
Nantucket, Massachusetts
Nantucket is an island south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in the United States. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the town of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and the coterminous Nantucket County, which are consolidated. Part of the town is designated the Nantucket...
. The big canvas, entitled Le leggende d'Italia, represented an imaginary Renaissance city rich in Italian masterpieces of 15th and 16th century.
In 1949 he was already working on a cycle of ten large paintings, commissioned by the industrialist Bruno Buitoni, Sr., entitled Le avventure, le sventure e le glorie dell'antica Perugia, which he finished in 1952; Fiume's interest in Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
painting, particularly in Piero della Francesca
Piero della Francesca
Piero della Francesca was a painter of the Early Renaissance. As testified by Giorgio Vasari in his Lives of the Artists, to contemporaries he was also known as a mathematician and geometer. Nowadays Piero della Francesca is chiefly appreciated for his art. His painting was characterized by its...
and Paolo Uccello
Paolo Uccello
Paolo Uccello , born Paolo di Dono, was an Italian painter and a mathematician who was notable for his pioneering work on visual perspective in art. Giorgio Vasari in his book Lives of the Artists wrote that Uccello was obsessed by his interest in perspective and would stay up all night in his...
can be inferred from these works. In 1953, the New York magazines Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
and Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
commissioned him to do some works depicting an imaginary story of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
and New York Bay
New York Bay
New York Bay is the collective term for the marine areas surrounding the entrance of the Hudson River into the Atlantic Ocean. Its two largest components are Upper New York Bay and Lower New York Bay, which are connected by The Narrows...
, envisioned by the painter as statue islands.
A period of contacts, travels and exhibitions around the world began. These travels were very important for Fiume because they helped him gather impressions, sounds, forms and colours of ancient and modern cultures, which increased his artistic personality, providing him the material for a global set of images, but always disciplined by the preponderance of the Mediterranean classical harmony.
In 1962, a hundred pictures of Fiume's toured through several German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
museums, including those of Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
and Regensburg
Regensburg
Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
. In 1973, the artist went to the Babile valley, in Etiopia, together with his friend, the photographer Walter Mori, where he painted a group of rocks with anticorrosive paints. A full scale model of a section of these rock was made by Fiume for the big anthological exhibition of 1974 at the Palazzo Reale of Milan; this model covered almost all of the big Cariatidi Room. At the same exhibition, the Gioconda Africana, now kept by the Vatican Museums
Vatican Museums
The Vatican Museums , in Viale Vaticano in Rome, inside the Vatican City, are among the greatest museums in the world, since they display works from the immense collection built up by the Roman Catholic Church throughout the centuries, including some of the most renowned classical sculptures and...
, was dislpayed for the first time.
In 1975, the Calabria
Calabria
Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....
n village of Fiumefreddo Bruzio
Fiumefreddo Bruzio
Fiumefreddo Bruzio is a town and comune in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy....
accepted Salvatore Fiume's proposal to beautify the historical centre with some of his works for free. Between 1975 and 1976, the artist painted several walls of the ancient tumble-down castle, and, in 1977, the cupola of the San Rocco chapel. In the 1990s he erected a bronze sculpture in each of the squares of Fiumefreddo with a panoramic view of the sea.
Several exhibitions followed: in 1985 at Castel Sant'Angelo
Castel Sant'Angelo
The Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as the Castel Sant'Angelo, is a towering cylindrical building in Parco Adriano, Rome, Italy. It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family...
of Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
; in 1987 the De Architectura Pingendi exhibition at the Sporting d'Hiver of Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco....
inaugurated by prince Rainier of Monaco
Rainier III, Prince of Monaco
Rainier III, Prince of Monaco , styled His Serene Highness The Sovereign Prince of Monaco, ruled the Principality of Monaco for almost 56 years, making him one of the longest ruling monarchs of the 20th century.Though he was best known outside of Europe for having married American...
; in 1991 at the Mostra internazionale di architettura in Milan, at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni
Palazzo delle Esposizioni
The Palazzo delle Esposizioni is a neoclassical exhibition hall, cultural center and museum on Via Nazionale in Rome.Designed by Pio Piacentini, it opened in 1883. It has housed several exhibitions The Palazzo delle Esposizioni is a neoclassical exhibition hall, cultural center and museum on Via...
; in 1992 at Villa Medici
Villa Medici
The Villa Medici is a mannerist villa and an architectural complex with a garden contiguous with the larger Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in Rome, Italy. The Villa Medici, founded by Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and now property of the French...
, seat of Académie de France in Rome. In 1993 Fiume visited the places where Gauguin
Paul Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was a leading French Post-Impressionist artist. He was an important figure in the Symbolist movement as a painter, sculptor, print-maker, ceramist, and writer...
had lived in Polynesia
Polynesia
Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...
; he also donated one of his paintings to the Gauguin Museum of Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
, in homage to the great French master.
Other elements which attest to the many sides and eclecticism of Salvatore Fiume are the various experiences which he collected during his career as a sensitive interpreter of the world which surrounded him. As a theatrical stage designer, from 1950 to 1960, he was prominent at the Teatro alla Scala of Milan (sets and costumes for La vita breve of Manuel de Falla
Manuel de Falla
Manuel de Falla y Matheu was a Spanish Andalusian composer of classical music. With Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados and Joaquín Turina he is one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20th century....
), at the Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, at the Teatro dell'opera of Rome and at the Teatro Massimo of Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
.
As a writer, besides Viva Gioconda! in 1943, he published several novels, many short stories, a comedy, a tragedy and two collections of poems. In particular, his 1994 book entitled Pagine libere ("Free Pages"), three years before his death, presents very personal remarks about life and art. In 1988, his activity as a storyteller, poet and playwright earned him an honorary degree in Modern Letters from the University of Palermo
University of Palermo
The University of Palermo is a university located in Palermo, Italy, and founded in 1806. It is organized in 12 Faculties.-History:The University of Palermo was officially founded in 1806, although its earliest roots date back to 1498 when medicine and law were taught there...
.
As a sculptor, he made his debut in 1994 with an exhibition for the Galleria Artesanterasmo of Milan, though his beginnings in sculpture in wicker
Wicker
Wicker is hard woven fiber formed into a rigid material, usually used for baskets or furniture. Wicker is often made of material of plant origin, but plastic fibers are also used....
, ceramics
Ceramics (art)
In art history, ceramics and ceramic art mean art objects such as figures, tiles, and tableware made from clay and other raw materials by the process of pottery. Some ceramic products are regarded as fine art, while others are regarded as decorative, industrial or applied art objects, or as...
, bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
, marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
, resin
Resin
Resin in the most specific use of the term is a hydrocarbon secretion of many plants, particularly coniferous trees. Resins are valued for their chemical properties and associated uses, such as the production of varnishes, adhesives, and food glazing agents; as an important source of raw materials...
and other materials dates back to the 1940s and the strong plastic-architectural interpretation which recurs also in the pictorial production is undeniable. All the same, a series of previous experiences which saw the creation of marble sculptures by professionals based on Fiume's sketches led the artist to skip the intermediary craftsmen and to carry out his own sculptures, from the sketch to the completed work, himself. So, at the age of seventy nine, Fiume personally created remarkably big sculptures, such as Le tre grazie, from the plasticine
Plasticine
Plasticine, a brand of modelling clay, is a putty-like modelling material made from calcium salts, petroleum jelly and aliphatic acids. The name is a registered trademark of Flair Leisure Products plc...
model to the final form in painted resin: a considerable commitment which, according to his relatives, contributed to undermine the artist's health. His production includes works in stone
Rock (geology)
In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic...
, bronze, resin, wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
and ceramics, some of which are sizeable, as the bronze statue at the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
of Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
, the stone groups at the San Raffaele hospitals of Milan and Rome and the bronze group for the Wine Fountain in Marsala
Marsala
Marsala is a seaport city located in the Province of Trapani on the island of Sicily in Italy. The low coast on which it is situated is the westernmost point of the island...
. Another open-air exhibition of his sculptures was held in 1995 at the Centro Allende in La Spezia
La Spezia
La Spezia , at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the Liguria region of northern Italy, is the capital city of the province of La Spezia. Located between Genoa and Pisa on the Ligurian Sea, it is one of the main Italian military and commercial harbours and hosts one of Italy's biggest military...
.
Literary works
- W Gioconda! (1943)
- I sogni di Luisa (1983)
- Tragedie Drammi Commedie (1990)
- Scrivo a te donna (1983)
- Pagine libere (1993)
- I miserabili (1994)
- La risata del fauno, (1995)
- Lettere clandestine (1996)
- Antico rogo (1996)