The sculpture “The Tailor” by Cleto Tomba is a significant polychrome terracotta that immediately conveys one of the central themes of the artist’s production: popular everyday life observed with participation and measure.
From a compositional point of view, the scene depicts a tailoring interior animated by several figures, modelled with a deliberately essential rendering. However, despite the formal synthesis, each character retains a clear narrative identity. In particular, the arrangement of the figures suggests a suspended moment of work, captured naturally and without celebratory intent. Consequently, the sculpture stands out for its narrative capacity, achieved through a direct and accessible language.
The artist, active mainly between the 1930s and 1950s, is known for an anti-rhetorical figurative sculpture, often dedicated to the world of work, domestic life and everyday gestures. Moreover, his style combines spontaneous modelling with a controlled use of colour, which does not overwhelm the form but discreetly accompanies it.
In this sense, “The Tailor” represents a coherent example of Cleto Tomba’s mature poetics. Therefore, the work stands as an authentic testimony to 20th-century Italian sculpture, capable of combining social observation, formal balance and artisanal quality.
Description: Polychrome terracotta sculpture, bearing the artist’s incised signature and impressed “CT” mark, H cm 16x27x11
Hammer Price: € 4.250,00
Auction 59 – 27 April 2023 – Modern and Contemporary Art
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