The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-05-18
Moretti Famous Sculptor
 Makes Sylacauga His Home Leaves Pittsburg To Make His Residence Amid
 Scenes or Great Marble Quarries

2
 Few Alabamians know that Syla-' cauga is now the home and working place of one of the worlds most fA- nous scnlptors. He is Giuseppe MOret- ti, formerly of Pittsburg.
 After maintaining his studio in the Pennsylvania city for years, MOrettf this year came to Sylacauga and es- tablished himself near the great marble Quarries.
 T get more daylight and have more pleasant surroundings here" he said. Sylaeauga citizens gave the famed sculptor a warm welcome and are proud of the fact that this Is to be his future home and work shop
 Pittsbnrg gave up MOretti with con- siderable reluctance The Gazette Times of that city, few months ago. told of his work, known throughout the world, in q special feature story that thousands of AlabamianS will be inter ested in. It follows:
 +'.Art for art sake- 1t is all very we'll But Athens and the Rome of long ago have fallen The age of beauty. alone in art has given way to a new age. Today, generally speaking. artists must sacrifice the -art for art sake or starve.
 A'The artist of the present. whether sculptor or painter, is accused of com mercialixing art But the trend of the times, not the artist, is responsible With cruel reality, the struggling artist of 1924 learns that, to live. it must be art for rent money, shoes for the babies and food
 But art and industry are far from being enemies And today many of our greatest works of sculpture are dedicAted to industry and science- leaving an impression, such as only images can, in the minds of millions of workers in factories and mills, thus ac- eomplishing a great work for hu- manity."
 A query about futuristie art made Mir. MOretti laugh. There is no art in futuristic creations" he said, adding. 'I will tell you a story"
 The story was thiss Many years ago 1he sculptor had visited an in sanes asylum An inmate there drew ''fantastic something on a -Tal and claimed it depicted Napoleon or some thing of the sort To Mir MOrefti. ae- cOrding to his own confession. it meant nothing but an absurd Scribble~ But the inmate, the sculptor pointed out, no douht saw his own creation all he claimed it showed
 SAnd that" he said, referring to his little story" is futuristie art The futuristic artist sees what he has created. But how anyone else can re mains to me a mystery"
 Faturistie Sculpture
 ''Oh, yes, the realm of sculpture as well as painting has its sO-eaIled futuristie creations ElabOrating Oal this, he. said:
 At an exhibition in New York long ago I saw two egg-shaped objects iRi marble, well polished One of the eggs was much larger than the other The title of this work was Mother and Child The creator of that piece of work evidently saw the mother and child, but I could not"
 At the same exhibit another s-futur- ist sculptor" Mfr. MOretti pointed out, displayed something resembling a pillar impression of lot of tin cans joined to- eether. This work was called some kind of q queen. But even the Bow cry would disOwn such a queen" the sculptor said, shrugging his large
 
 Giuseppe MOretti, famed sculptor. whom Pittsburg has come to look upon as it's own, soon will leave for the south There, in the Alabama marble region. he- had built himself a studio. whieh after April 1, will serve as his per manent workshop He is going there, he explained yesterday, to his BigelOw boulevard studio, not in search of an artists paradise but in quest of more daylight" and to fulfill a~deSire to bel near the Alabama marble guarries-
 The sculptor, who rises with the dawn and works in his studio from 80 o'clock in the morning until long into the night, consented to half hour chat. Come" he said, pAuSing in his work on a large memorial in tribute to Harrisburg firemen who died in the World war, '.let us so where we can talk." He led the way to the rear of the studio building into a little room that serves as his dining room
 Sacrifice Or StarVe
 "Ah, yes, this is an age of hurry" he commented. -It Is an era of in dustry, of science And art, like other things, must follow the trend of the times
 sArt though" said the sculptor sud denly, ''is making progress in America and in time America is bound to con quer it and is destined to become the art leader of the world"
 Mir Moretti, for whom the apprOaeh- ing spring heralds the coming of 6S years of existence, stil has a keen eye and a keen mind for art He has lost none of his enthusiasm in the 30 years since he first came to PittSburg to ere ate the statues that mark the Highland trance on Stanton avenue also are Mir Moretti's work
 The sculptor explained that he de sired to locate near the Alabama \ marble quarSies because he was partly resnonsihle for thn slisnoEeEy nf this