Dario Viterbo (1890-1961)

An artist in Italy who “was not enrolled in the fascist party [...] could recite his requiem or get himself a passport“: the summing up by the sculptor Viterbo, who lived in Paris since 1925. In 1940 a passport for the United States was obtained for him by the Italian Emergency Rescue Committee, which helped exiles escape from occupied France. A Jew, an anti-fascist and a naturalized Frenchman, he risked “being imprisoned, shot or tortured in a concentration camp“. In his escape from Paris he lost everything, all his works. In New York, penniless, 51 years old, he started from scratch. He needed bronze, marble, mahogany, and tremendous efforts. The article is published with photos, map and timeline, network and insights.