In the latter years of the 19th century, a half-Italian, half-French sculptor, Medardo Rosso, who was born in 1858 and died 1928, applied the features that were typical of Impressionist painting to sculpture, although he had barely had any contact with them.

The expressive faces of his images were gleaned from everyday life, people in the street and their daily routines.

We see here two small busts, Sick Child and Laughing Girl. In both works we can detect Rosso’s interest in portraying the fleeting effects of light in a spontaneous gesture. In Medardo Rosso’s late-Impressionist style, the need to reflect the subtleties of the human face is more important than using traditional materials.

Medadro Rosso was a pioneer in the search for alternative materials that had previously been thought of as undignified, such as wax or plaster. The artist used these materials as the basis for his creative approach and they allowed him to produce nuances, light and shade that were able to convey a feeling of reality, although they lacked the colour and polished finish of Classical sculpture.

(c) (R) 2012, MUSMon com S.L.