Anna Maria Cesarini Sforza (b. 1921 - d. March 2, 2017) was an Italian artist and mosaicist.

Life & Education

Cesarini Sforza was born in Bologna in 1921. She attended the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome in the 1940s alongside artists like Campigli, Afro, Capogrossi, Carrà, Consagra, de Chirico. She married the Italian sculptor

Pietro Cascella Pietro Cascella (February 2, 1921 – May 18, 2008) was an Italian sculptor. His principal work consisted of large monumental sculptures, including the '' International Monument to the Victims of Fascism'' in the Auschwitz II-Birkenau death ca ...

in 1945 in Rome. Cascella and Cesarini Sforza had a son Tommaso Cascella, Jr. in Rome in 1951. Her grandson is Matteo Basilé (Rome, 1974), a contemporary artist and photographer. Cascella and Cesarini Sforza divorced, and Cascella remarried in 1966. Cesarini Sforza died on March 2, 2017 at the age of 96.

Work

Cesarini Sforza came from a long line of artists. After her studies in Rome and her marriage to Cascella, Cesarini Sforza began an intensive study of mosaics and collage. She also collaborated on projects with her husband and other artists at the time, including Cascella's brother Andrea. For example in 1949, Cascella and Cesarini created a large mosaic in the third-class waiting room at Rome's central station. The next year, 1950, they created the mosaic for the

Cinema America Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking * ...

in Rome. This work has more recently been in the news because Roman gentrification had endangered the work. Her work was included in the 1950-53 exhibition ''Italy at Work: Her Renaissance in Design Today'' that was co-organized by the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

and the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

. In 1955-56, the two also created the ceiling of the Salone delle Riunioni at the ministry of foreign affairs in Rome. Her work was exhibited in a 2006 group exhibition at the Galleria Cortese & Lisanti in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

titled "Women of Art," alongside artists like

Carla Accardi Carla Accardi (9 October 1924 – 23 February 2014) was an Italian abstract painter associated with the Arte Informel and Arte Povera movements, and a founding member of the Italian art groups Forma (1947) and Continuità (1961). Biography Born ...

. In 2009, her work was exhibited in the Galleria Studio 10 in

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

n that was titled "Anna Maria Cesarini Sforza – Il mondo fantastico" or "Anna Maria Cesarini Sforza – The Fantastical World." She had a number of important students come through her studio over the years to learn mosaics, including Marco Picchi (from 1987-90).

References

Italian mosaic Mosaic artists 20th-century Italian women artists {{DEFAULTSORT:Cesarini Sforza, Anna Maria 1921 births 2017 deaths