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Gianfranco Fusari was born in Chiampo (Vicenza), a small artisan village in the Veneto region of Italy (the northeastern region of Italy with Venice as its capital). His father was a sculptor who specialized in marble. On his mother's side of the family are many ancestors who were painters and sculptors. Notable among them was Angelo Pizzi, a particular favorite with Napoleon who, after conquering Venice in 1797, nominated him to the post of Director of Accademia di Belle Arti and contracted him to create the Napoleonic Aisle in Piazza San Marco in front of San Marco Cathedral. Fusari studied in his native Italy at the Scuola d'Arte e Mestieri (Art and Craft School) in Vicenza and the Accademia di Belle Arti (Fine Art Academy) in Venice. He has lived and worked in Venice, Verona and Lazise on Garda Lake. Since 1998 he has been living in Venice and in Bassano del Grappa, a small picturesque town at the foothills of the Alps, famous for its Ponte Vecchio (a covered wooden bridge from the fifteenth century by Palladio and near the ancient eleventh century castle walls). The human figure is fundamental to Fusari's work, which is grounded in the grand classical tradition of superb draughtsmanship. At the same time, his sense of composition, design, delicacy and keen sensitivity are uniquely his own. Many of his drawings feature his three favorite models: Chiara, his wife; Olga, from St. Petersburg, Russia; and Daniela, from Venice. The particularity of his models is very important to him and fundamental to his creative process, the model being, in a sense, the co-author of the art. Franco Fusari's work is represented in private collections in Germany, Austria, Denmark, England and the United States, and in public collections such as the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, the Bass Museum of Art of Miami, as well as at other locations throughout the world. He is represented in galleries in the United States, England, Germany, Spain, Austria, and Finland. |
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