Bruno Lucchesi

Through the 35 years of his career, Lucchesi's sculptures have ranged from the sacred to the profane. At the time he was doing Crucified Christ and Angels for a church in Italy, he was also turning out terra-cotta or bronze reliefs depicting such mundane scenes as paunchy men in a Turkish bath or women in a public restroom. Born near Pisa but based in the U.S. since the late 1950s, Lucchesi is a sculptor possessed of tremendous sympathy and admiration for women, as shown in wonderful pieces such as Nursing Mother , After Shoping and Pregnant . In treating classical themes, he adds a personal, down-to-earth twist, with results that are either banal or novel, depending on one's taste. His shoppers, commuters and bathers owe a debt to Daumier. Finn's probing photographs complement a short yet helpful text by Merriam, author of A Grace of Sense: The Sculpture of Joan Sovern. (Sept.)