Alik Cavaliere

Biography

The son of the poet Alberto and the Russian Jewish sculptor Fanny Kaufmann, Alik Cavaliere is one of the great masters of contemporary art of the second half of the 20th century. After a childhood that is partly conditioned by his father’s anti-fascist activities and anti-semitic laws, he studies at the Liceo Berchet in Milan and graduates from the Academy of Brera, under the guidance of Manzù, Funi and Marino Marini.

His first individual exhibition is in the Colonna Gallery in Milan in 1951. After a season of figurative realism from 1957-58, Cavaliere creates the series giochi proibiti [forbidden games], in the sculpture catalogue Elena Pontiggia writes “a metaphor of the relation between existence and nature, between instinct and thought, between truth and violence”, he begins to explore the theme of Metamorphosis, which will remain at the centre of his pursuit. In 1960 he lays out the series of the Adventures of Gustavo B (1961-64) “where sculpture becomes a flexible tale in numerous episodes and realism changes into a surreal narrative” (Ibid.)  From 1964, inspired by De Rerum by Lucrezio, he dedicates himself to the exploration of the theme of vegetation. He takes part in the Venice Biennale several times together with others in the exhibition of Italian Sculptors in 1956, and with an individual room in 1964 and again in 1972, the year in which he presents his most significant work: I processi: dalle storie inglesi di W Shakespeare [the processes: from the English stories of Shakespeare] an extraordinary and magnificent installation (7x10x10 metres) currently owned by the Gallery of Modern Art in Valle Giulia in Rome. From 1964, with the Arbres exhibition, the Schwartz Gallery becomes his gallery of choice. In 1970 he attains the post of teaching sculpture at the Brera Academy, taking over from Marino Marini, whom he had previously assisted. Throughout the 1970s he develops the series Viva la libertà. In 1971 he creates Omaggio all’America latina with the painter Emilio Scanavino, for the Sao Paolo Biennale in Brazil, but the piece isn’t displayed for fear that the protests of the desaparecidos [the disappeared] could have negative repercussions at a diplomatic level. In 1973 at the 12th Art Biennale at the Middelheim Musuem in Antwerp he presents the installation Surroundings, a completely avant-garde piece on which he would continue working for over ten years. Starting from 1975 he starts his long association with Vincenzo Ferrari. During the 1980s he continues the trend for big installations, creating the labarynth series “where I can meet the eventual visitor /spectator and then get lost together on the inside of the actual piece” the artist writes. His are settings which through intricate and elaborate labarynths propose eternal themes and new artistic methods: memory and time (La memoria, 1987; La traccia, 1986; I giardini della memoria, 1988-90; Il tempo, 1987), the classic and the modern (Le leggi eterne dell’arte, 1993), “truth” and “lies”, the comparison between art and life (Il Pigmalione, 1986-87. Worth remembering are the great settings dedicated to Giordano Bruno (1989), the series of works on the theme of Orlando Furioso (1993-94), Passato, presente e…Pian Cordova, which is currently at the MART in Rovereto. His last great work, incomplete, is Grande albero, which is currently on display in the cloister of the Milan Conservatory.

An artist who isn’t daunted by any limitation or definition, always in search of new forms of expression, with a conceptually innovative use of techniques from the classical to avant-garde dadaism, revisiting them with a variety of pliable and modern materials.

In 1998 a few months after the artist’s death, the Alik Cavaliere Art Centre in Milan is founded in Via E de Amicis 17 in Milan. In these lovely buildings, part of a 17th century convent, the works and installations of the artist are shown in regular rotation as part of the “Storie Milanese” project [Stories of Milan], a network of locations dedicated to the figures who have made an important impact on the artistic life of the city during the 20th century.