Accession Number
2015/2.84

Title
La Grande Maschera

Artist(s)
Mirko

Artist Nationality
Italian (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
1957

Medium & Support
bronze on stone base

Dimensions
62 ¾ in x 11 in x 13 ¾ in (159.38 cm x 27.94 cm x 34.92 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Scott Hodes and Maria Bechily-Hodes

Subject matter
Mirko Basaldella, who preferred to be known solely by his first name, is most well know for his large sculptures from the 1950s, like this one. Part of the Scuola di Roma during the Second World War, alongside his brother and painter Afro, Mirko quickly developed a post-cubist abstract language in sculpture. This work was produced just after he moved to the United States to serve as the head of the new Design Workshop at Harvard University. Like many of his American contemporaries, notably David Smith, Mirko's combination of primitivism and industrial design sought to create a new visual language. Here, this abstracted mask is monumental and almost becomes a figure, free-standing. Like his other works of this period, this work is meant to give the sense of deeper meaning available through signs and symbols but that is left untranslated, unreferenced. A later cast (1973) of this work was placed as a monument to his mother at her tomb in his native Udine.

Physical Description
This abstract bronze sculpture on a stone base has a series of undulating flat surfaces with cut outs. With a clear frontality, the back of the sculpture has a more rustic patina. 

Primary Object Classification
Sculpture

Primary Object Type
casting

Additional Object Classification(s)
Sculpture

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
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Keywords
Abstract (fine arts style)
bronzes (visual works)
face masks
surface texture