Books, objects and posters
Find in the online shop a selection of products related to the author
See full shop![Il mostro Il mostro [le monstre]](https://thumbnails.artbrut.ch/artbrut/w1200q100v2/1/f72d351a4252eb0c402e99622bea9945_b1df258c5d.png)
Giovanni Battista Podestà was the thirteenth child in a Lombard farming family. His father died when he was still a little boy and he was raised by his mother, surrounded by his twelve sisters. He left school at the age of ten and was hired as a builder’s helper in order to provide for his family. In 1914, the First World War broke out and he went to the front. At the end of the conflict, the land owned by his mother was insufficient to support the family and Podestà was forced to join the drift away from the countryside. He ended up in Laveno, a town on the shores of lake Maggiore, where he found employment as a policeman, then as a factory worker. When the Second World War was declared, Podestà re-enlisted.
Giovanni Battista Podestà created multicoloured, glittery sculptures and high and low reliefs made, among other things, from fragments of mirrors and metallic paper that he salvaged. He integrated sundry cultural, popular or religious motifs borrowed from the Middle Ages into his works, which had a strongly symbolic content. In this way he found an effective means to protest against the loss of spiritual values that occurs in a materialistic society. His body, which he adorned and displayed in the streets of his town, also became a support for expression.
Shop
9 items available
Bonhomme d'Art Brut
Bonhomme d'Art Brut, Paris, Editions Thierry Magnier, 2015,24 x 20 cm, 28 pages.
More
The Art Brut Fascicle N°15
The Art Brut Fascicle N°15, 18 x 24 cm, 150 ill. black/white or color, about 160 pp. Since 1964 to 2018. In French. One fascicle CHF 30.-
Price Complete collection, 25 fascicles (N°2 - N°26) : CHF 720.-
More
Théâtres
Théâtres (french version )
Pascale Jeanneret, Sarah Lombardi and Eric Vautrin, Théâtres, Lausanne/ Milan, Collection de l’Art Brut/ 5 Continents Editions, 2019, « Art Brut, la collection », under the direction of Sarah Lombardi, 144 pages, more than 100 colour plates, french or english version.
Croyances (french version)
Emmanuel Grimaud, Sarah Lombardi and Anic Zanzi, Croyances, Lausanne/ Milan, Collection de l’Art Brut/ 5 Continents Editions, 2021,« Art Brut, la collection », under the direction of Sarah Lombardi,168 pages, more than 100 color plates, available in french or in english..
Theatre (englixh version)
Pascale Jeanneret, Sarah Lombardi and Eric Vautrin, Theatre, Lausanne/ Milan, Collection de l’Art Brut/ 5 Continents Editions, 2019, « Art Brut, la collection », under the direction of Sarah Lombardi, 144 pages, more than 100 colour plates, french or english version.
Giovanni Battista Podestà 1987
Beliefs (english version)
Emmanuel Grimaud, Sarah Lombardi and Anic Zanzi, Beliefs, Lausanne/ Milan, Collectionde l’Art Brut/ 5 Continents Editions, 2021, « Art Brut, la collection », under the direction of Sarah Lombardi, 168 pages, over 100 color plates, available in French or English.
Podestà 2003
Related to the author
