Arnaldo Pomodoro

Arnaldo Pomodoro – Beginnings as a stage designer, goldsmith and sculptor

Arnaldo Pomodoro was born in Morciano di Romagna on 23 June 1926. In war-torn, post-war Italy, he was initially interested in architecture and land surveying, inspired by the thought of restoration and reconstruction. From 1949 to 1951, Pomodoro studied stage design at the Pesaro Art Academy and using his acquired knowledge, designed not only various stage sets, but also the matching costumes. For a time, he worked as a goldsmith with his brother Giò Pomodoro, and in 1954 the brothers moved to Milan where they came into contact with artists such as Enrico Baj, Lucio Fontana and Sergio Dangelo. Around  the same time, Arnaldo Pomodoro was able to exhibit his sculptures for the first time, in the Galleria Montenapoleone in Milan and the Galleria Numero in Florence, whilst a further exhibition followed in 1954 in the Milanese Galleria del Naviglio. His first steps in the world of art were therefore a success and in order to find further contacts, Pomodoro travelled to New York and Paris where he met Georges Mathieu and Alberto Giacometti.

Study trips to Europe and the USA; lively exhibition activity

In the years that followed, Arnaldo Pomodoro undertook further trips, but returned to the USA to organise exhibitions of contemporary Italian art in San Francisco and New York. He pursued a lively correspondence with David Smith and Louise Nelson and was one of the founders of the Italian art group, Contintuità. In 1963, Pomodoro took part in the Biennale in São Paolo in Brazil where he won a prize for his sculpture submission, and one year later, he was honoured with an exhibition at the Venice Biennale. Numerous exhibitions followed in the next years, in New York, Rome, and other cities. The by now recognised and celebrated artist also took on teaching contracts, such as Guest Professor at Berkeley University in California, and in 1967, represented his homeland of Italy at Expo ’67 in Montreal. Despite this international success and network, Pomodoro felt a particular affinity to the Milan art scene and also signed the Manifesto Against Style, compiled in this context. 

Geometric bodies of metal with erupting inner life

Arnaldo Pomodoro came to his own style mainly in the 1960s, often resulting in spherical metal formations with basically smooth surfaces which, however, broke open in places. Whilst his smaller sculptures are represented in numerous museums and galleries around the world, the artist thanks a large part of his fame also to the larger-than-life monumental installations which are found in many public spaces. With his choice of material, the artist refers back to his past as a goldsmith: It is the precious and less precious metals of gold, silver and iron that he forges into the basic geometric forms, never forgetting the inner life, which he makes visible through deliberate fractures. Furthermore, Arnaldo Pomodoro set up his own foundation in 1995 which on the one hand, looks after and preserves his own work, but on the other is also to encourage younger representatives of contemporary sculpture and offer them a platform. 

Arnaldo Pomodoro has been living and working in Milan since 1954.