Giuseppe Armani (1935-2006) Italian, "On the Road" Numbered Porcelain Figurine. Depicts a pretty woman wearing a wide-brimmed hat sitting astride a vintage motorcycle. Signed near her feet, with a plaque on the wood base below. Dated 1998 on the side. Marked "limited edition 31/3000" on the back. Labels with title on underside. Comes in original box with a pamphlet in plastic sleeve inside. 

Box Size: 18 1/4 x 15 x 9 in. 

Figure Size: 6 1/2 x 5 x 12 in. 

Giuseppe Armani was born in Calci, Italy in 1935, and by the time he was two he was drawing prodigiously, with an innate knack for understanding perspective, shading, and composition that grew throughout his youth. His parents encouraged his gift and his teachers arranged for him to attend the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, but when he was just twelve years old his father died unexpectedly, and Armani quit school to help make money and support his family. In 1952 a local priest organized an exhibition of young artists and Armani entered a sculpture of a classically inspired male torso, gaining immediate attention for its anatomical precision and offered a permanent job at the Pisa Art Gallery adjacent to the Leaning Tower as an artist. For the next twenty years he traveled extensively and experimented in wood, clay, alabaster, marble and more, gaining a national reputation for pristine quality and the ability to duplicate features with great precision in the style of Capodimonte. In 1975 the Florence Sculture d’Arte offered him an exclusive contract where he was given total freedom over the pieces he wanted to create, and the latter part of his life brought him international fame with his whimsical and imaginative Disney characters created for distribution around the world by Arribas Brothers. He passed away in 2006, and his works are still highly sought after by collectors across the globe.

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