Andrew Lambirth

Andrew Lambirth: Emilio Greco’s early work is undeniably his best

Plus: Comparing Rembrandt and Auerbach brings rich rewards

‘Crouching Nude’, 1956, by Emilio Greco. Credit: Private Collection 
issue 19 October 2013
Emilio Greco (1913–95) is considered to be one of Italy’s most important modern sculptors, and certainly he was a successful one, enjoying considerable popularity and renown with his deliberately mannered re-interpretations of classical subjects. A figurative sculptor, Greco went in for elongated limbs and awkward yet dynamic poses that often have a surprising elegance and no little wit. His most celebrated work is ‘Monument to Pinocchio’ (1953) in the Tuscan hill town of Collodi, and one of the highlights of this new exhibition at the Estorick — no doubt intended to revive Greco’s reputation (on the wane since the 1970s) — is a bronze study for it.

3. Estorick - Greco Study for the Monument to Pinocchio   4. Estorick - Greco Dress the NudeEmilio Greco: Study for the Monument to Pinnochio, 1953 and Dress the Nude (fragment from the Doors of Orvieto Cathedral), 1962

For this centenary exhibition, the two downstairs galleries have been filled with some 40 works by Greco, mostly sculptures and drawings of women. The early work is undeniably the best: a fact made inescapable by the merest glance at the heavily cross-hatched ink drawings from later years.

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