Emilio Greco
Il grande lottatore (The Large wrestler)
Artwork Detail
Born in Catania, in Sicily, Emilio Greco was apprenticed to a stonemason at 13 years of age, assisting in copying antique sculptures, before acquiring a more formal training at the Academy of Art in Palermo. Greco was employed as Professor of Sculpture at the School of Fine Arts in Rome; as well as in Monaco and Salzburg. In 1956 he received the Grand Prize in Sculpture at the Venice Biennale.
The large wrestler represented here is a street performer, a timeless character that dates back to the Etruscan and Roman periods of the 5th century BC, but executed in the modern style of the post-war Italian Realist movement. This life-sized work was the first large sculpture to be made by Greco. (20th Century Modern, 2003)
- Title
- Il grande lottatore (The Large wrestler)
- Artist/creator
- Production date
- 1947
- Medium
- bronze
- Dimensions
- 901 mm
- Credit line
- Mackelvie Trust Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 1962
- Accession no
- M1962/1
- Copyright
- Copying restrictions apply
- Department
- International Art
- Display status
- Not on display
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