Bruno Lucchesi (Italian/USA, B. 1926) Sculpture. Bruno Lucchesi (Italian/USA, B. 1926) Very large sculpture. Artist signed. Dimensions (in): 65.25 x 28.50 x 14. A genre and figure sculptor, Bruno Lucchesi is known for his contemplative female figures and genre figure groups that "capture the fullness of life in the simplest details. (Reynolds 218) Lucchesi was born in 1926 in Lucca, Italy, and was raised near Pisa in the small town of Fibbiano Montaino. He worked as a shepherd and then studied at a monastery in Lucca. During World War II, he was much influenced by a Yugoslavian sculptor who persuaded Lucchesi's peasant family to allow him to attend the Art Institute of Lucca. Following his studies there, he worked in Florence making commercial models and taught sculpture at the Academy of Florence. In 1959, he emigrated with his new wife to New York City, and got a job making ceramics and mannequins. But it was his small genre sculptures that brought him attention, first in Greenwich Village, and by the 1960s, he was exhibiting at the Forum Gallery and the Whitney Museum. Some of his pieces such as "Jacob's Ladder" and the "Annunciation" reflected his Judao-Christian heritage and others such as "The Trojan Women" touched on Classical topics. He also did monuments such as "Rapbell" and outdoor sculpture such as "Park Bench" as well as figure groups including mothers who were nursing their babies, men in public baths, and nuns enjoying themselves in conversation. He taught at the New School for Social Research and National Academy of Design where he became an Associate member in 1965, and an Academician in 1975. He divides his time between Italy and America, conducting sculpture workshops in the United States. Lucchesi received a Guggenheim Fellowship, and gold medals from the National Academy and National Sculpture Society. He was awarded honorary doctoral degrees from the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts, and Cedar Crest College.