Arnaldo Pomodoro

Arnaldo Pomodoro (Italian, b.1926) is a sculptor who works with metal, and is best known for the multiple versions of his bronze sculpture Sphere within a Sphere. Born in Morciano di Romagna, Pomodoro assisted in the restoration of public buildings and studied stage design before becoming a sculptor. He traveled extensively at the end of the 1950s to New York and throughout Europe, where he met a number of famous artists, including Alberto Giacometti, Louise Nevelson, and David Smith. After his return, he became a founding member of the Italian artistic group Continuità, which aimed to restore Italian art to its historical grandeur. Pomodoro gained increasing recognition in the 1960s for his work in bronze, and was awarded a coveted solo show at in the 1964 Venice Biennale. The artist continued to exhibit and teach internationally, and in the 1980s, he returned to his work on set and costume design for Italian theater. He also received numerous outdoor sculpture commissions, and the Vatican, the United Nations, the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., and other locations all own a copy of his Sphere within a Sphere. Pomodoro currently lives and works in Milan.