Giuliano Ottaviani - Return to the Countryside

Social themes in art began to gain prominence in the mid-19th century, coinciding with the spread of social questions throughout European societies. The work of painters such as Millet and Daumier, for example, favored subjects related to life in the fields, factory work, or strikes. In Italy, among the first painters to engage deeply with social themes were Pellizza da Volpedo and, in the contemporary era, Renato Guttuso. The present work is part of a series of bronze bas-reliefs created by Giuliano Ottaviani, inspired by daily life and rural activities. These are realist subjects that completely depart from this artist's pictorial output, which tended toward surrealism, even in the language he employed.

Giuliano Ottaviani's bronze bas-reliefs, dedicated to the themes of work and everyday life, are characterized by a remarkable realistic concreteness. This does not mean adopting a style adherent to sensory data, but rather an expressionistic sculptural approach, inspired by primary and essential values. For this reason, the subjects of this cycle display a marked synthesis, rendering the images iconic, dense with symbolic meaning. Furthermore, the surface is completely undulating, charged with vibrations linked to the very concreteness of existence.

Giuliano Ottaviani was born in Foligno in 1954. He first attended the Perugia School of Art and later graduated from the Brera Academy under Domenico Purificato. His first exhibition was held at the age of 17 in Milan, but he subsequently achieved great success in Zurich, where the gallery owner Her Bolag purchased his works for his private collection. Ottaviani divides his time between Italy and Switzerland, where he has consistently garnered excellent critical and public acclaim.

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