Italian actress and sculptor Gina Lollobrigida died. She was 95 years old.
Among her most famous roles are Adeline in Christian-Jacques’ Fan-Fan Rose and Esmeralda in Jean Delanoy’s Notre Dame.
In the 1960s, Gina Lollobrigida was recognized as the most beautiful woman on the planet.
In addition to conquering Hollywood with her acting (she starred in more than 65 films), Gina also directed, produced,
wrote scripts, tried herself as a photographer and created more than 60 sculptures from bronze and marble, from the smallest to the 5-meter Esmeralda.
For the actress, cinematography became a source of inspiration for sculpture. Having achieved huge success in the cinema and ended her career in the early 90s, she returned to his first love sculpture.
Lollobrigida graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome.’ I studied painting and sculpture, but I became an actress by mistake.’
Gina earned her first money as a street artist by drawing caricatures. At the same time, she attended opera vocal lessons and studied at a theater school.
Since childhood, she had a dream to become a sculptor or an opera singer. Gina was repeatedly invited to appear in films, but at first she was not interested in acting and refused.
And only her mother’s persuasion and the prospect of earning money brought her to the cinema.
The sculpture is Gina’s magical golden mirror, in which the vibrancy and beauty of Lolobridgeda, the movie heroines of Esmeralda, Queen of Sheba, Paolina Borghese, come to life.
Once, in one of the interviews, she admitted that he never got as much pleasure from cinema as from sculpture.
‘Cinema is a dependent art: you depend on the screenwriter and director, but in sculpture it’s just me and my hands. And I can be allowed to express what I want without asking anyone.’
Gina Lollobrigida believed that art should be positive.
‘I love beauty… I would like my sculptures to bring back the joy of life, to touch the soul.’ And,
indeed, Gina’s ‘Esmeralda’ is incredibly alive, with sparkling eyes and a dazzling smile, as if she stepped from the pages of a famous novel.’