Cubist Totemic Wooden Sculpture, Italy, 1990s

Cubist Totemic Wooden Sculpture, Italy, 1990s

A standing figure is assembled from squared blocks of wood: a mask-like head with rectangular openings, a broad, boxy torso, a ribbed waist that recalls a coiled spring, and short, arched legs set on a dark rectangular base. The joints between the blocks are left in plain view, so the figure reads as a small construction in which every piece has its place. The wood shows a lively grain and a range of tones, from honey to deep brown, and the blocks catch the light in different ways as the viewer walks around the piece.

Luciano Bertolotto was an Italian maker who signed his works Pompi and followed a naïf, primitive instinct. He treated the human figure as a stack of simple volumes, closer to a toy or a totem than to a portrait, and he built his sculptures by fitting pieces together. This figure from the 1990s shows that approach clearly, with its blocks, its ribbed waist and its small, direct gestures. Its tall, slender stance suits a shelf, a console or a plinth, where it stands as a quiet, characterful presence.