Maison Gerard is sad to announce the passage of Cesare Arduini.
Few sculptors successfully transcend the line between craftsman and artist; Cesare Arduini, an Italian who lived and worked in the Bronx, was one of them. Drawing on his years of experience as a master marble worker, Arduini created dynamic, wholly unique works of sculpture which not only defy gravity, but his practical roots as well.
Arduini was born the youngest of four in the province of Verona in Italy, a region as well known for its remarkable abundance of marble as its famous wines. As a young man, he had dreams of becoming a mechanical engineer. But choices were limited, and the only options available to him were following in his father’s footsteps as a butcher or entering the marble-working trade. Arduini chose marble.
In the course of his education at the Instituto Paolo Brenzoni Arte del Marmo in Sant’Ambrogio di Valpolicella, Arduini became so skilled in his chosen medium that he won a sponsorship to come to New York as a marble specialist. It was here in New York, at the age of 23, that he began using his trade to work on residential and commercial projects, building a reputation as an elegant and artistic craftsman.
After twenty-five years leading the marble industry of the region, Arduini came to a crossroads. Having overcome health issues which put his career on hold, and with the encouragement of his cousin Flevie Rigo, Arduini decided to change gears, abandoning practicality entirely for pure expression, employing his mastery of stone-shaping in the creation of his own works of sculpture.
In 2014, he brought those works to Benoist F. Drut of Maison Gerard, who immediately put the works on view, and purchased some for his own collection. Since that time, Maison Gerard has represented the art of Cesare Arduini.
His artistic legacy is a body of work that reveals the inherent beauty of marble, onyx, limestone and other stones — their varying shapes, densities, and grains. His sculptures, carved in tightly geometric shapes, are often as figural as abstract, ranging from the contemplation of subjects as tactile and real as the human face, to ideas as opaque and ponderous as clanship and chaos. The result is an oeuvre which is as eclectic as it is elegant.
We will remember Cesare Arduini for his kindness, sensitivity, and love of life. Our sympathies are with his friends and family.
A memorial will be held Saturday, January 28th at 3:30pm at the Carrillo Funeral Home, located at 4364 Bronx Blvd, Bronx, New York 10466.