Giorgio Rossi, Terracotta Female Figure, 1930s, Height 78 cm

Giorgio Rossi (1892–1963)
Woman with Crossed Hands, circa 1930
Terracotta, unique piece
Height: 78 cm

This sculpture is the work of the Tuscan sculptor Giorgio Rossi, active between Florence and Volterra. The female figure is modeled through a deliberate simplification of form, reflecting the direction taken by Rossi in the 1930s, when he moved away from the fluid lines of Italian Art Nouveau and embraced a language closer to the Novecento (Italian 20th-century art). The solid masses and frontal stance suggest an intentional archaising approach, while the softened facial features introduce a poetic, almost childlike innocence.

The figure no longer derives from naturalistic observation but from an imagined, idealised image, where archaic echoes and modern sensibility coexist. This shift from realism to a timeless synthesis is one of Rossi’s most distinctive traits of the period. The choice of terracotta—deeply rooted in Tuscan tradition, from Etruscan heritage to early Renaissance sculpture—establishes a continuity between the past and his modern reinterpretation.

Provenance: kept within the artist’s family after his death.
Condition: very good.

Exhibitions (selection – documented participations of the artist)
1906, 1912–13, 1916–18: Società di Belle Arti, Florence
1920: Mostra d’Arte Sacra, Venice
1925: Premio Principe Umberto, La Permanente, Milan
1930, 1936: Venice Biennale
2007: Giorgio Rossi. Scultore nel secolo breve, Palazzo Panciatichi, Florence
2010: Le voci di dentro. La scultura di Giorgio Rossi, Sala delle Colonne, Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze
2011: Nel segno della Sieve, Pontassieve
2013: Volti dal passato, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence