Adolfo Wildt Italian, 1868-1931

Seconda Mostra del Novecento Italiano, Milan 1929, p.40, no.14;  Centenario della Società Amatori e Cultori di Belle Arti, Rome 1929, p.27, no.2

This extraordinary relief of Il Filo dates to 1929, the year in which Wildt also designed his famous Körner Monument.  This date is confirmed in the questionario written by the sculptor for Giovanni Scheiwiller and in March 1929 both these works were exhibited in the Seconda Mostra del Novecento Italiano.  V. Bucci, reviewing the exhibition for the Corriere della Sera, described Il Filo as ‘uno dei suoi preziosi e levigati marmi’. The relief also impressed M. Sarfatti who commented that Il Filo ‘ha dato un bel bassorelievo, con quell’arte squisita che gli appartiene, di rendere il marmo lieve e fine, pur nella solidità, come se fosse modellato col fiato’ (Rivista Illustrata del Popolo d’Italia).  Wildt further exhibited his marble in the 1929 Mostra del Centenario della Società Amatori e Cultori di Belle Arti in Rome.

Wildt made two marble versions of Il Filo. Raul Viviani records that the version exhibited in 1929 was bought by Senatore Treccani.  This is now in a private collection. The present marble remained in the Wildt collection, in his studio at via Vivaio 14.  It was there that during the bombing of August 13^th 1943 the roof, glass skylight and part of the outside wall collapsed, badly damaging his marble Famiglia (which won the prize at the Biennale in 1922) and the plaster Parsifal. Il Filo remained virtually undamaged except for the top left corner which was knocked off. Francesco Wildt, the sculptor’s son, repaired the damaged corner with the original piece. After 1945, Francesco decided to leave the visible repair as a symbol of the tragedy of war.

A plaster version also exists in the Ca’ Pesaro, Venice, as part of the Wildt-Scheiwiller bequest. Wildt also made a bronze version which he exhibited in Rome in 1930. Three small preparatory studies on paper, inherited by Francesco Wildt, reveal the genesis of the design which evolved from a composition reminiscent of images of the Virgin and Child.  These drawings also show the figure of the soul without wings.

The subject of Il Filo is the thread of life. The main figure represents one of the Fates, either Clotho who spins the thread or Lachesis who measures out the thread.  The small winged figure represents the human soul.  The compositional use of a rectangular relief recalls the 1918 relief of Maria dà luce ai pargoli cristiani in which the central figure of the Virgin is similarly large in comparison to the three children sleeping in a symbolic tree of life. The use of relief is central to Wildt’s aesthetic. His highly refined surfaces are treated in an almost abstract manner, animated by light reflected off delicately concave or convex surfaces.

The present relief of Il Filo is carved from the rare and sculpturally challenging Rosa di Gandoglia marble.  Wildt was especially concerned about his materials and wrote specifically about this type of marble in Arte del Marmo (pp.100-104, 108, 110-112) published in Milan in 1921 in which he gave detailed advice on how to work the marble.  

‘This marble is as fascinating in its tone of flowers and flesh as it is hard to work     due to the hardness of the grain. So be well aware of its beauty and the difficulty of the material that you are using. I hope that the choice of using this unique and extremely rare material (which has been used exclusively in the construction of the Cathedral of Milan) was not simply a whimsical desire, rather it should stimulate a close affinity between the particular origin of this marble and the nature of the work of art that you wish to create: an affinity which should be graceful and strong at the same time ... Bear in mind that for each stroke on the Carrara marble you will need five on the Gandoglia’. 

RELATED LITERATURE
Seconda Mostra del Novecento Italiano, Milan 1929, p.40, no.14;  Centenario della Società Amatori e Cultori di Belle Arti, Rome 1929, p.27, no.2; G. Nicodemi, Adolfo Wildt, Milan 1935, fig.XXXIII; P. Mola, Wildt, Milan 1988, p.153