Bruno Bruni (1935 Gradera/Italy) 'Zärtlichkeit', bronze relief, dimensions 76 cm x 40 cm x 1.7 cm, signed, foundry stamp, numbered 8/250, with some traces of white pigment, with purchase receiptProvenance: Edition; Galerie Volker Huber; private collection, HanoverThe Italian sculptor, painter and lithographer Bruno Bruni was born in 1935 in the small municipality of Gradara, but came to Hamburg in 1960 and became one of the most successful Italian artists in Germany. Bruni received his first artistic training at the "Istituto d'Arte di Pesaro", where he became acquainted with the traditions of Italian sculpture and painting. Later he studied under the painter Georg Gresko, who helped him reconcile the influences of abstract expressionism and surrealism. After Gresko's early death, Bruni continued his studies under Paul Wunderlich. Under the latter he learned the technique of polychrome lithography, which Bruni mastered like no other.Bruno Bruni is mainly known for his erotic female nudes. The slender and sensual figures are often presented and contrasted together with mysterious male figures or raging bulls. Many of his sculptural and printed works went into serial production, making Bruni one of Germany's most financially successful artists. Contrary to the trend towards more and more abstraction in art, which was particularly prevalent in the 1970s and 1980s, Bruni opted for a figurative style. He once said of himself, "I can't paint abstract works. If I had followed the trends, "I would have gone under long ago."