Giovanni Battista Podestà

Italy, 1895 – 1976

The social and political circumstances of the first half of the 20th century profoundly marked the life and work of Giovanni Battista Podestà as much of his work reflects the uncertainties, insecurities and changes that defined that period. In a first phase, Giovanni Podestà devoted himself to oil painting, representing mostly religious motifs and landscapes. Later, he began to create sculptures in high and low reliefs using various recovered materials, such as fragments of mirrors, paper or metal. Podestà’s work is marked by religious and popular symbolism and can be understood as a manifesto against the loss of some spiritual values due to the materialist values that began to emerge associated with the growing consumer society.