Emilio Greco

Emilio Greco, born in Catania on October 11, 1913, and died in Rome on April 5, 1995, was one of the most important Italian sculptors, writers, and illustrators of the twentieth century. From an early age, he showed a marked inclination for art, filling his notebooks with drawings despite his family’s initial opposition, who would have preferred a more lucrative career for him. At the age of thirteen, due to family financial difficulties, he began working as a stonemason’s apprentice at a local construction company, an experience that proved fundamental for his artistic and technical training.
His passion for ancient sculpture was born while observing Greco-Roman remains visible from the Palazzo Biscari during his elementary school years at the former San Placido convent in Catania. Despite the limited artistic opportunities offered by Catania at the time, Greco managed to exhibit some graphic works at the Circolo Artistico di Catania and, later, at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo[5]. In 1934, he obtained a certificate from the Academy of Palermo, after which he served in the military, participating in colonial campaigns, while during World War II he lived in Rome, remaining detached from the war events.
After the war, in 1947, he moved permanently to Rome, where he worked at Villa Massimo alongside other prominent artists and the following year obtained a teaching position at the Liceo Artistico di via Ripetta. His artistic career experienced a rapid rise: he created marble and bronze sculptures, terracottas, portraits, and numerous drawings, exhibited in major Italian and European exhibitions. Among his most famous works are the Pinocchio and the Fairy monument in Collodi (1956), the Monument to Pope John XXIII in St. Peter’s, and the Doors of Orvieto Cathedral (1970). Greco is also known for his cycle of the Great Bathers and for his portraits of young women, characterized by elegant plasticity and profound poetic sensitivity.
In addition to his sculptural activity, Emilio Greco devoted himself to writing and illustration, leaving a graphic production of great value. Greco also taught sculpture in Munich, Salzburg, Naples, and Rome, contributing to the training of new generations of artists[15]. His artistic research, always aimed at an intact and ductile plasticity, has left an indelible mark on the history of Italian art of the twentieth century.