|
Description:
|
At the topographical heart of the Exposition, this structure was meant to dazzle the viewer with its size, color, and form. Dazzling white against the green of the hill in the background.
Offering a passage with a bridge over the river was the simplest thing in the world. But the smartest stroke of genius of the three relentless creators of all the buildings of the Exhibition, the Engineers Fenoglio, Molli and Salvadori, was not to simply and easily get the visitors from one bank of the Po to the other. They created a convenient and shaded route in tunnels illuminated by innumerable little windows that open onto the river, and an enjoyable one via the quick transport of the tapis-roulant. The grand bridge, constructed in wood and plaster by Viotti Brothers Co., is 106.5 meters long has 5 arches of 21.3 meters each. Halfway on each abutment there are two bow windows – one for each side – supported by caryatids sculpted by G.B. Alloati. In the middle of each bow window, begin columns by the sculptor Del Santo, with basements holding up Winged Victories by the sculptor Sassi.
|
|
People:
|
  Alloati, Giovanni BattistaGiovanni Battista Alloati was a prominent Neoclassical sculptor in Turin during the first half of the 20th century. Between 1893-1903, he attended the Royal Albertine Academy of Fine Arts and completed his apprenticeship with contemporary sculptors such as Sartorio, Davide Calandra, Pietro Canonica, Leonardo Bistolfi (he also worked in August Rodin's atelier in Paris, for a short time). During his career, he worked primary in Piedmont, where he had several public and official recognitions, as well as private commissions (i.e. bust of Giolitti, and Monument to Torre Family); he also won several awards (i.e. Turin 1902 - Concorso Nazionale di Arte Decorativa and Cuneo 1905 - Concorso per la Grande Fontana Monumentale) and he participated in many World's Fairs. In the occasion of Turin 1911, he was asked to work on the Monumental Bridge, for which he realized the huge caryatids.
Sassi, FrancescoVery few information on this artist are currently available. Francesco Sassi was a Neoclassical sculptor from Vercelli, who intensively worked in Turin at the turning of the 20th century. Still young (1880, 1890 and 1891), he was invited to show some of his bronze sculptures at Palazzina Promotrice delle Belle Arti, in which occasion he gained the respect and admiration of the critics. The bronze Monument to Giovean Felice (one of the founder of the newspaper "La Stampa") in Turin is one of his best works. In 1911, he was invited to work on the Monumental Bridge with the other scuptors Alloati and Del Santo, and he specifically realized the elegant statues of Nike with outstretched wings.
|
