Alfredo Pina Italian, 1883-1966

Pina modelled his iconic bust of Beethoven in Montpellier during the First World War and one of the primary casts of it remains there in the Musée Fabre.  It is believed he modeled at least two separate versions of the composer, some of which do without the expressive coat and collar characterising the present bronze.  While smaller casts were edited in large numbers probably by the Valsuani foundry, the larger versions are more rarely found and bear the stamps of the Montagutelli and A.G. foundries (as in the present case).

Pina was by no means the first sculptor to have treated the cult of the great composer. Guiseppe Grandi, Max Klinger and Emile-Antoine Bourdelle all attempted representations of Beethoven that express his genius in terms of an intense pathos and temperament. What set Pina's bust apart however, was the Rodinesque play of form in the expressive attitude of the modelling, which deliberately suppresses accuracy of detail for a generalised depiction of inner emotion. Pina's bust of Wagner, while sharper in the definition of form, is treated in a similar manner and with a hallmark emphasis on the rendition of the eyes. In 1920 Pina sent his bust of Beethoven for exhibition at the Venice Biennale which may be identified as the one in the 'museum of Venice' mentioned in Gaston de Pawlowski's biography of the artist published in 1929.

RELATED LITERATURE
Chiselled with a Brush pp.126-7, no.32; G. de Pawlowski [unpaginated]; D. Achelle, L'Art. La Sculpture contemporaine et l'œuvre d'Alfred Pina, 1921