Umberto Bassignani (29 August 1878 – 21 January 1944) was an Italian sculptor. He designed public sculptures in Italy, France, Switzerland, Russia and Monaco, where he had an
atelier
An atelier () is the private workshop or studio of a professional artist in the fine or decorative arts or an architect, where a principal master and a number of assistants, students, and apprentices can work together producing fine art or ...
.
Early life
Umberto Bassignani was born on 29 August 1878 in
Fivizzano
Fivizzano is a ''comune'' in the province of Massa and Carrara, Tuscany, central Italy.
History
It became part of the Republic of Florence in the 15th century thus gaining the Tuscan republic an important foothold in Lunigiana, a key region whi ...
, Tuscany, Italy.
Career
Bassignani opened an atelier at 13 boulevard Charles III in Monaco in 1907.
He designed many sculptures in the
Monaco Cemetery
The Monaco Cemetery (French: ''Cimetière de Monaco'') is a cemetery in La Colle.
Overview
The cemetery contained 2350 tombs until 2014, when 198 more were built. It is open to the public from 8am to 7pm in the summer and from 8am to 6pm in the w ...
.
He exhibited his work at the
Exposition Universelle et Internationale in Brussels in 1910, where he represented Monaco and he won a silver medal for a bust.
Bassignani designed
public sculptures in Italy, France, Switzerland, Russia and Monaco. For example, he designed the
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
monuments in his hometown of Fivizzano as well as in
Vazzola
Vazzola is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Treviso in the Italian region Veneto, located about north of Venice and about northeast of Treviso.
Vazzola borders the following municipalities: Cimadolmo, Codogné, Fontanelle, Mar ...
.
In France, he designed sculptures in Paris,
Nice
Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...
,
Aurillac and
Peille
Peille (; oc, Pelha; it, Peglio Marittimo) is a commune perched on a rock between Monaco and Menton in the Alpes Maritimes department in southeastern France.
It overlooks the River Peillon. Higher still than the village are the ruins of a ...
.
His public sculptures can also be seen in
Rostov
Rostov ( rus, Росто́в, p=rɐˈstof) is a town in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, one of the oldest in the country and a tourist center of the Golden Ring. It is located on the shores of Lake Nero, northeast of Moscow. Population:
While ...
, Russia, and in
Geneva
, neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier
, website = https://www.geneve.ch/
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...
, Switzerland.
He also designed the fountain on the Place Saint Nicolas in
Monaco-Ville
Monaco City (french: Monaco-Ville) is the southcentral ward in the Principality of Monaco. Located on a headland that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, it is nicknamed The Rock (french: Le Rocher). The name "Monaco City" is misleading: it is no ...
in 1930.
Bassignani left Monaco in 1939.
Death and legacy
Bassignani died on 21 January 1944 in
Lerici,
Liguria
it, Ligure
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, Italy.
On 2 May 2017, the mayor of Monaco,
Georges Marsan
Georges Marsan (born 20 March 1957) is a Monégasque politician serving as Mayor of Monaco since 2003. A member of the Communal Evolution (EC) party, he was first elected to the Communal Council of Monaco in 1991. Marsan is a pharmacist by trade ...
, dedicated a commemorative plaque at the bottom of the fountain on the Place Saint Nicolas, with his name and dates.
Further reading
*
References
1878 births
1944 deaths
People from the Province of Massa-Carrara
Italian male sculptors
Sculptors from Tuscany
19th-century Italian male artists
19th-century Italian sculptors
20th-century Italian sculptors
20th-century Italian male artists
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