Angelo Camillo Maine - Seated Chimpanzee

Bronze, 24 x 17 x 15 cm
Under the base cartouche of VII Quadriennale di Roma, 1955
Provenance: Milan, private collection; Genoa, heirs of the artist
Exhibitions: Rome, VII Quadriennale Nazionale d'Arte, 1955

Angelo Camillo Maine was born in Genoa in 1892. His style, somewhere between Symbolism and Deco, was divided between goldsmithing (chalices, chalices and candelabra) and funerary production. In 1928 he exhibited at the Promotrice in Genoa a finely chiseled bronze lamp entitled The Kiss of Dragonflies, which was presented the following year at the centenary exhibition of the Amatori e Cultori in Rome and for which an article in "La Casa bella" compared him to Benvenuto Cellini. Thanks to his meticulous engraving skills, in 1927 he was featured in the third exhibition of
decorative art exhibition in Monza and, in 1930, he sent two silver objects to the goldsmithing exhibition of the Venice Biennale.
Venice. He favored animal subjects, particularly fish, but also chimpanzees, orangutans and monkeys in general. 
 The rapid and dynamic modeling, with broad planes interrupted by tears and clusters of vibrant material, intensifies the crumbling feeling of the surface, bringing it closer to certain results of informal sculpture. Critics cite the work of Alberto Giacometti and Jean Dubuffet.