Sirio Tofanari
(1886-1969)
Sculpture, ca. 1930/40.
Bronze with patina. Group of 3 Impala
Signed S. Tofanari, Fonderia Lazzeri Florence. H 39 cm. W 60 cm.
Measurements: H 39 x W 60 x D 20 cm;
Biography
The sculptor Sirio Tofanari, moved to Milan in 1937, where he later began working with the Italian Ceramic Company in Laveno. After graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts he became a self-taught sculptor, studying in London and Paris.
He debuted at the Faenza Decorative Art Exhibition in 1908 at the age of only twenty-two, and in the same year he exhibited his work at the Promotrice di Belle Arti in Turin. He first participated his works in the Venice Biennale in 1909.
During the 1920s he achieved success both in Italy and in Europe, participating in numerous exhibitions.
In 1911 Tofanari won the gold medal at the Barcelona International Exhibition.
Beginning in the 1910s, he began to devote his energies to specializing in the depiction of animals, becoming one of the greatest 20th-century animalier sculptors in Italy.
He sculpted his subjects with an anatomical accuracy that gave the animal a realistic pose and expression and a virtuoso elegance. What critics of the time praised in his output was not simply his sophisticated skill as a sculptor but also his intense plastic synthesis and monumental effect