Costantino Nivola

Costantino Nivola (1911 – 1988) was a pivotal figure in transatlantic modernism and a key interpreter of the dialogue among the arts. Trained in Sardinia and at the ISIA in Monza, and arriving in New York in 1939 while fleeing fascism, Nivola fused the archaic culture of the Mediterranean with the energy of the American metropolis. His work spans sculpture, architecture, design, and graphics, driven by the conviction that art should serve as a collective instrument capable of inhabiting public space as well as the domestic environment. Featuring more than 200 works, the exhibition traces the major milestones of the artist's life and research: from his early graphic work for Olivetti to the groundbreaking invention of sand-casting—a technique that uses sand molds to shape concrete into relief forms—through to his large-scale anthropomorphicsculptures. The show reveals the portrait of an artist who remained radical in thought and pragmatic in action, transforming concrete, sand, and metal into a manifesto of modern humanism. An invitation to rediscover art as a shared responsibility, an indivisible bond between the individual, the community, and the space that surrounds them.