Riccardo Scarpa

RICCARDO SCARPA (Venice, 1905 - Paris, 1999)
"Abstract sculpture of human body" 1960's.
Carved teak wood.
Unique piece.
On iron base.
Signed.
Measurements: 101,5 cm (height).

This sculpture synthesizes the formal research developed by Riccardo Scarpa in the 1960s, a period in which the artist deepens in volumetric simplification and formal purification. Carved in teak wood, the piece is articulated in a stylized vertical structure that suggests an anthropomorphic body reduced to essential lines and gently curved surfaces.

The composition is characterized by the fusion between figure and void: the central opening perforates the volume and generates a dialogue between mass and space, a resource typical of post-war modern sculpture. The raising of the arms, resolved in an upper bifurcation, reinforces the verticality and gives the work a restrained, almost ritual dynamism. The warm grain of the wood and the polished finish underline the organic character of the piece, in contrast to the sobriety of the iron base.

Riccardo Scarpa was an Italian sculptor whose career developed mainly in France. Trained at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice, he moved to Paris in 1928, integrating himself into the dynamic artistic environment of the interwar period. He participated regularly in the Salon des Artistes Français, where in 1974 he was awarded the gold medal, a recognition that consolidated his career.

In his early stages he worked on African themes, animals and female figures in a language close to Art Deco, evolving progressively towards a greater formal simplification and a volumetric synthesis closer to abstraction.