Ottilio Pesci - Dancer

bronze, cm 24 (h)

The base bears the signature 'Ottilio Pesci' and a French foundry stamp.

Ottilio Pesci was born in Perugia in 1877. At the turn of the century, he moved very young to Paris, a city in full ferment that saw him establish himself as a sculptor, exhibiting at the Nationale des Beaux-Arts, and from 1904 at various Salons. In Paris he was obviously influenced by post-impressionist art. In the Ville Lumière, Ottilio Pesci met Théodore Duret, a journalist and art critic linked to the Impressionists. The fascination for Japanese culture that characterised Ottilio Pesci's artistic production can therefore be traced back to his acquaintance, which led him to become a professor of Oriental Art, but above all, in 1912, to move to Japan. In addition to figures with a Japanese flavour, women in kimonos or men in traditional dress, Ottilio Pesci's attention is also focused on small portraits or genre subjects that he depicts with attention to detail in a verist key, such as this Dancer, with its moving and dynamic surfaces.