Description
LEO LENTELLI (American, 1879-1961) "The Embrace". The terracotta colored plaster sculpture depicts a man and woman rider embracing. Mounted on an oval base. In good condition, the head of the man has been reglued. The base measures 8 ½" x 5 ½". The sculpture measures 7 ¾" high. Included are several photos of Leo Lentilli's public sculpture including San Francisco's Palace of the Fine Arts and Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco in 1915. Leo Lentelli was a good friend of Cesare Barbieri (also from Bologna) and Anita De Paulis. From the estate of Cesare Barbieri. Barbieri, Cesare (1878 - 1956) born in Bologna Italy-emigrated to U.S. (1905) Inventor, mechanical engineer, and philanthropist; Worked as an early advisor, beginning in 1914, to the Vortex Co. in Chicago; continued as a consulting engineer to the Dixie-Vortex company after merger; designed first cone-shaped cup machinery and 1st double-wrapped, heavy-duty hot-drink and container cup machinery; Founder of Cesare Barbieri Endowment to promote American culture abroad, and to restore the University of Bologna. Willed his considerable estate in trust for needy Dixie employees. He died on May 26, 1956 at age 78. We've included several scanned images showing the interior of Cesare Barbieri's - Villa Barbieri estate in Tuxedo Park, New York, a portrait of Cesare, photos of Cesare receiving an important award medal from the University of Bologna, and one of his Dixie Cup patents. From Wikipedia: Leo Lentelli (20 October 1879 - 31 December 1961) was an Italian sculptor who immigrated to the United States. During his 52 years in the United States he created works throughout the country, notably in New York and San Francisco. He also taught sculpture. Born in Bologna, Italy, Leo Lentelli studied in Bologna and Rome[1] and worked as a sculptor in his native land.[2] Immigrating to the United States in 1903[3] at the age of 24, Lentelli initially assisted in the studios of several established sculptors.[2] In 1911 he entered the Architectural League exhibition and won the Avery Prize. The following year he became a naturalized citizen of the United States.[2] Chosen to provide sculptural ornament for the Panama-Pacific Exposition,[2] Lentelli moved to San Francisco in 1914. He collaborated with Frederick George Richard Rothand Stirling Calder.[4] Calder has been credited with aiding Lentelli in developing his own style.[2] An example can be seen in his Water Sprites. His long-limbed figures with hair and draperies in loose frills like seaweed made striking fountain statues and lent themselves well to architectural decoration. The surfaces were left rough for the sake of variety of texture and to give an effect of spontaneity. He also participated as a sculptor in the city's artistic renewal, which took place after the 1906 earthquake and fire.[5] While in San Francisco he taught at the California School of Fine Arts.[2]Significant works from this period include the Five Symbolic Figures at the Old Main Library elevated above the street entrance of the Larkin Street entrance.[6] Still a resident of San Francisco, he made the ornament for the Orpheum Theater, then known as the Historic American Theater,[7] at Saint Louis and created two-figure groups depicting pioneers on the Dennis Sullivan Gateway at Denver, Colorado. Returning to New York City, he began teaching at the Art Students League.[3] He also taught at the Cooper Union and became an academician of the National Academy of Design.[1] Lentelli gained fame through his The Savior with Sixteen Angels for the reredos at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, as well as his public sculpture for the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco.[8] Among his important works[1] are an equestrian statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Virginia (collaboration with Henry Shrady), and a 1932 monument to Cardinal Gibbons[9] located north of Meridian Hill Park in Washington, D.C. A benignity is achieved in the latter, its decorative element accented in the carved chair and graceful folds of the cassock.[2] During the New Deal Lentelli created four statues for the Post Office in Oyster Bay, Long Island, dated 1937: a terracotta bust of Theodore Roosevelt, two terracotta panels and ornamentation at the base of the flagpole.[1] During the same period, he also created sculpture for the post office of North East, Pennsylvania.[10] His statue of Apollo and a musical muse, located in a lunette of Steinway Hall on 57th Street in New York City, was covered when the building was sold,[10] but is again on display. Other ornamental figures include Bagnante, aDiana, and Leda.[10] In addition to figures, Lentelli sculpted panels and bas-reliefs for many distinguished buildings.[8] He ornamented a frieze on the Free Academy building at Corning, New York with a panel of children's figures.[10] Lentelli's bas-reliefs on the International Building at Rockefeller Center are considered among his most important works. Among Leo Lentelli's marks of recognition are the 1922 Medal of Honor of the Architectural League of New York and Gold Medal at the National Academy of Design exhibition in 1927. He was a fellow of the National Sculpture Society, an associate member of the National Academy of Design and a member of the Architectural League of New York. In 1955 Lentelli retired to Italy and died on December 31, 1961 in Rome. Leo Lentelli: A Sculptor of the City Beautiful Though Italian-American sculptor Leo Lentelli lived in San Francisco a relatively short time (from 1914 to 1918), he was an active participant in the artistic renewal taking place in the City at that time. As San Francisco rebuilt after the 1906 earthquake and fire, the City Beautiful movement was reaching its zenith. Noted architectural historian Banister Fletcher in A History of Architecture has written that proponents of the movement sought to "give form and direction to the rapid development of urban areas, to make them more efficient and more attractive areas." In the new Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture,James Stevens Curl also notes that this beautification was part of a civic desire to "enhance prestige and attract wealth" for cities. San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts and Civic Center are the two principal testaments to the influence of the City Beautiful Movement. The Exposition was a temporary city within the city that emulated the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicagothat gave birth to the entire City Beautiful movement. The Palace of Fine Arts is the sole remaining structure from the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. The Exposition grounds were one large indoor and outdoor art exhibition full of sculptures. Many structures also featured mural painting or inlayed sculpture. One of the striking features of art of this event in hindsight was its transitoriness. A. Stirling Calder (the father of Alexander Calder), the Exposition's Chief of Sculpture, wrote that the sculpture of the Exposition "a passing matter. In a few years, interesting and beautiful as it is, it will be a memory ..." "Aspiration" Above an Entrance to the Palace of Fine Arts(Image from the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection) Leo Lentelli, an assistant to Calder, was one of the contributors to this visual memory with sculptures that today we can view through the Library's San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection and the Online Archive of California. He did a series of equestrian statues that were part of the Court of the Universe and his sculptures of Water Sprites for the Court of Abundance was well-received. His sculpture "Aspiration" then placed above the door to a gallery of the Palace of Fine Arts caused a stir because of its seemingly precarious position. The other major City Beautiful project that San Franciscoundertook at this time was its Beaux-Arts style Civic Center.Lentelli created "Five Symbolic Figures," a series of five statues representing Art, Literature, Philosophy, Science and Law, that were placed between the pillars above the entrance to the Old Main Library at Larkin Street. These works, made of cast stone (a cement-like substance) were installed in 1918, the year after the Library opened, and were not intended to be permanent.Sadakichi Hartmann, writing for the Architecture and Engineer in 1918, praised these works for "their sturdiness of conception and attitude, their decorative expression, and a certain swing and freedom of handling." Unfortunately, by the time the Asian Art Museum renovated the Library these works had deteriorated so much that no attempt was made to retain or restore them. Perhaps Lentelli's most significant contribution to San Francisco was to the design of the "Path of Gold" Light Standards that line Market Streetfrom the Ferry Buildingto Castro Street. The conception of these standards originated with Willis Polk, the sculpture at the base of the lights was created by Arthur Putnam. Lentelli was responsible for the design of the lighting itself. There are still a few examples of Lentelli's work in San Francisco.Visitors to the Mission Branch of the Library will recognize the "Two Decorative Figures" - an image of a boy and a girl holding a book between them - above the 24th Street entrance. Additionally at 111 Post Street (originally the Hunter-Dulin Building) there is a figure of Mercury at the entrance as well as relief medallions representing "The Seasons." From AskArt: "A sculptor, Leo Lentelli has work by him in many public venues including Rockefeller Center in New York City, Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina, the Department of the Interior in Washington DC, the Oakland Museum in California, the Pittsburgh Museum in Pennsylvania and the Denver Museum in Colorado.
