The athlete

The sculpture "O Atleta" (The Athlete) represents a male image sitting and resting his arms on a raised leg. The original work was made in 1951 and the bronze copy in the 1970s. “O Atleta” is an example of the series of sculptures called "atletas" (athletes), in which Bruno Giorgi started to use bronze for his thin sculptures, devoid of details, however rich in the essence of form. Bruno Giorgi was born in Mococa (SP), in 1905. He was the son of Italian immigrants. He moved with his family in 1911 to Rome. In 1937 he attended the art academies "La Grande Chaumière" and "Ranson", in Paris. In São Paulo, already in 1939, he worked with some groups of artists and in 1943 he moved to Rio de Janeiro, where he installed an atelier and gave classes. Among his public works are “Os Guerreiros”, popularly known as “Os Candangos” (1959), in Praça dos Três Poderes and “Meteoro” (1967), in the lake of the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Brasília. He died in Rio de Janeiro in 1993.