Medardo Rosso

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With his figures, Italian sculptor Medardo Rosso contributed decisively to the development of modern sculpture. The artist's focus was on the moment when the sculpture was perceived and the fusion of the figure with its surroundings. He worked almost exclusively on portrait heads; wax became a substitute for bronze, allowing him to refine the surface of the sculpture to its finest perfection and to use different hues, capturing the fleetingness of the apparition. The portrayed faces seem to either recede from the sculpture's surface or push against it. In Paris, where Rosso spent much of his life, he found understanding friends in Edgar Degas and collector Henri Rouart, while his friendship with Rodin faltered due to rivalry. Around the turn of the century, Rosso's sculptures were featured in many large European exhibitions; the Futurists would soon hold him up as a model. This publication is a scholarly survey of the artist's work, showing that although Rosso limited himself to very few motifs, their many different versions translated into independent works.