111 - Angelo Saglietti (Cuneo, 1913–Turin, 1979) “Machine Gunners,” 1942. 33 x 24 x 49 cm - 35 x 18 x 45 cm

Angelo Saglietti (Cuneo, 1913–Turin, 1979) “Machine Gunners,” 1942. 33 x 24 x 49 cm - 35 x 18 x 45 cm A pair of bronze-patinated aluminum sculptures depicting two Italian soldiers; one lying down with a rifle, the other kneeling and aiming a machine gun. On the first sculpture, the edge of the base is engraved with: *“G. Saglietti A. XX”* These are unique sculptures of remarkable beauty, whose significant “damnatio memoriae” lends them even more charm. As can be seen from the photo in the 1942 catalog published by the General Staff of the Royal Army, these are two of the three figures that made up the work “The Machine Gunners,” presented by the Piedmontese artist at the First Exhibition of Italian Artists in Arms—a work that was later dismantled amid the turmoil of war. The exhibition opened in Rome at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni on June 7, 1942. Only 126 Italian “artist-soldiers” on active duty in the army on the fronts of North Africa, the Balkans, Greece, and Russia exhibited there. Between the fall of 1942 and the winter of 1943, the exhibition went on tour throughout Fascist Europe and was shown in Berlin, Munich, Vienna, Budapest, and Bucharest. See: 1942 – “First Exhibition of Italian Artists in Arms,” catalog, Rome, Royal Army General Staff, pp. 71, 325.