Alik Cavaliere (1926–1998) was an Italian sculptor.[1] He spent his life researching the meaning of life, freedom, nature, and history. An atheist and libertarian, he didn't believe in any preconceived, final structure of society, the environment, or the universe. Nor did he follow any art movements of his time, although he knew all of them and was temporarily influenced by some. He made his own way, narrating his perceptions with witty irony, through sculptures made up of a wide range of materials, disposed in a chaotic labyrinth which visitors are forced to traverse without being able to find a definitive point of view.[2]
Biography
Alik Cavaliere photographed by Paolo Monti in 1965
Alik Cavaliere was born on 5 August 1926 in Rome, to Alberto Cavaliere, a southern Italian poet and politician, and Fanny Kaufman, a Russian Hebrew sculptor who escaped from the revolution.
After spending part of his childhood between Rome and Paris, he settled in Milan in 1938. In 1942, after high school, he enrolled in Brera Academy, where he was a pupil of Francesco Messina. There he met Giacomo Manzù, Achille Funi, Dario Fo, Bobo Piccoli, and Marino Marini, of whom he first became assistant and eventually succeeded as chair of Sculpture.
His first exhibit was in 1945, at a young artists show. His first personal exhibition was in 1951, at Galleria Colonna of Milan. He exhibited twice at Venice Biennale, in 1964 and 1972, both times in a personal room. He undertook teaching duty in Brera for over 30 years, eventually becoming director. A noteworthy retrospective of his works was held at the Royal Palace of Milan in 1992, named I luoghi circostanti (Surroundings).[3]
Works by Alik Cavaliere photographed in 1970 by Paolo Monti at De' Foscherari gallery, Bologna
From 27 June to 9 September 2018, Palazzo Reale hosted another Alik Cavaliere exhibition. Entitled the green universe, the anthology focused on the theme of nature, reconstructing the artist's journey through rendering aspects of luxuriance and suffering by representing plants.[4]
Enrico Crispolti, Alik Cavaliere, Galleria Schwarz, Milan, 16 May - 12 June 1967
Daniela Palazzoli, Alik Cavaliere, Haags Gemeentemuseum, June 1967
Gillo Dorfles, Alik Cavaliere, Galleria La Minima, Turin, November–December 1967
Giovanni Carandente, Dizionario della scultura, Il Saggiatore, Milan, 1967
Udo Kultermann, Nuove dimensioni della scultura, Feltrinelli, Milan, 1967
Daniela Palazzoli, Toward a Cold Poetic Image, Art International, Lugano, 1967
Henry Martin, Natura morta, Still-Life, Art and Artists, New York, 1967
Enrico Crispolti, Ricerche dopo l'informale, Officina Edizioni, Rome, 1968
Vittorio Boarini, La serra e la gabbia, in Alik Cavaliere, W la libertà, Galleria de' Foscherari, Bologna, January–February 1970
Jean Dypréau, Elements pour une confrontation et une rélation, in Alik Cavaliere, Galleria Schwarz, Milan, 6–31 May 1971
Enrico Crispolti, Omaggio all'America Latina, mostra di Alik Cavaliere e Emilio Scanavino, Galleria De Foscherari, Bologna, June 1972
Roberto Sanesi, I processi dalle storie inglesi di Shakespeare, Galleria Rizzardi, Milan, February–March 1974
Vittorio Boarini, La serra e la gabbia, Alik Cavaliere, Una mostra riproposta e Calendario, Galleria Solferino, Milan, 12 November-12 December 1975
Le Muse, Istituto Geografico de Agostini, Milan, 1975
Il Milione n. 42, Istituto Geografico de Agostini, Milan, 1975
Franco Russoli, Esperienze degli anni Sessanta, Aspetti della scultura del dopoguerra in Europa, L'Arte Moderna, Fratelli Fabbri, Milan, 1975
Arturo Schwarz, L'immaginazione alchemica, La Salamandra, Milan, 1979
Pier Luigi Tazzi, AI Nodal, Alik Cavaliere, Il Modo Italiano, Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design, Los Angeles, January–February 1984
Rossana Bossaglia, Alik Cavaliere, Voyage, Pinacoteca e Musei Comunali, Macerata, September 1987
Giorgio Di Genova, Storia dell'arte italiana del 900, Edizioni Bara, Ascona, 1991
Giuseppe Maria Jonghi Lavarini and Gjlla GianiArt Fence, L'arte salva l'arte. 99 opere di artisti di Brera, Rotonda della Besana and Di Baio Editore, Milan, 1992
Guido Ballo, Alik Cavaliere. I luoghi circostanti, catalogo della mostra retrospettiva a Palazzo Reale, Milan, 21 May - 5 July 1992
Marco Meneguzzo, "Alik Cavaliere, A nous la libertè!" e "Fuochi di rivolta dal 1945 al 1968" in Due secoli di scultura, Fabbri Editore, Milan, June 1995
Arturo Schwarz, La Galleria 1954-75, Mudima, Milano 1995
Roberto Sanesi, Elogio della scultura, Panicale, 3 August-10 September 1996
Loredana Parmesani, Contemporary Artists, 4th edition, St. James Press, Detroit 1996
Rossana Bossaglia e Barbara Cattaneo, Alik Cavaliere, Le Storie: I Processi, Fondazione Stelline, Milan, February 1999, ASIN B00H376PFM
Gillo Dorfles, Angela Vettese, Arti Visive, Il Novecento, Protagonisti e movimenti, Edizioni Atlas, Bergamo, 2000, ISBN978-8826807591
Arturo Schwarz, Alik Cavaliere: Poeta, filosofo, umanista e scultore, anche (quasi una biografia), Electa, Milan, 2008, ISBN978-88-3706664-2
Elena Pontiggia, Alik Cavaliere. Catalogo generale delle sculpture, Silvana Editoriale, Milan, 2011, ISBN9788836618668
^Angela Vettese (June 2018). "A sociable loner". In Elena Pontiggia (ed.). Alik Cavaliere, l'universo verde (in Italian and English). Silvana Editoriale. Some interpreters have probed his logic, but it is necessary to look further.
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