GIRL FULL OF LOVE

One of the best-known works from Arturo Martini's early period is Fanciulla piena d'amore.
The plaster sculpture depicts the head of a girl with her eyes closed, ready to give a kiss to the viewer. However, her forms are different from reality! In fact, Martini modified the facial features and other details, drawing inspiration from the works of art he had seen in his travels: the hairstyle and the collar, for example, are characteristic of the refined style that Martini encountered during his stay in Munich in 1909; the elongated neck and the particular shape of the head, on the other hand, recall the works of Modigliani, the famous artist of Italian origin whom Martini met in Paris in 1912 together with his friend Gino Rossi.
Fanciulla piena d'amore from the Bailo Museum is a plaster model from which Martini obtained six ceramic works. One of these was exhibited in Venice in 1913, in one of the group exhibitions at Palazzo Pesaro. These exhibitions began in 1908 and, year after year, continue to this day; they are organized by the Opera Bevilacqua La Masa, an institution whose purpose is to help young artists.
The works presented are, at times, trials and experiments by novice artists and are often too modern for the public: it is not uncommon for them to receive criticism and reproaches!