Montreal sculptor Mario Bartolini’s hidden works finally on display, 10 years after his death

A reluctant Montreal artist who rarely showed his creations, Mario Bartolini's son is now changing that — and carrying out his father’s final wishes.

Mario Bartolini was a sculptor whose work was once displayed at Expo 67. A reluctant artist who rarely showed his creations, his son is now changing that — and carrying out his father’s final wishes.

Bartolini worked with terracotta and wood, but his large metal structures became his signature. “He really had the magic touch. But in reality, he was like some kind of recluse,” says his son, Dino Bartolini.

That reclusiveness came from Mario’s distaste for the business side of the art world. Dino often urged his father to let him put on an exhibition.

“’Let me do a show.’ And the answer was always ‘no.’ I kept on asking, and one day it was in a very dark mood. He said, ‘Dino you must destroy everything. When I die,’” recalls Dino.

In time, though, Mario softened. Before his death, he gave his son permission to exhibit the sculptures — with one condition.

“The expo is got to be ten years after I’m dead,” was Mario’s wish, says Dino.

That exhibition is now on display at Galerie Art Mur on St-Hubert. At last, pieces long locked away in a Verdun warehouse are being admired — and quickly sold.

“At the end, I’m sure that even if you would show no emotion, you would have been more than glad that it was happening,” Dino says of his father.

The show is happening just as his father instructed, with another planned for the spring, since the warehouse is still half full.

“I’ve got boxes in boxes of everything!” he adds.

With every unboxing, Dino discovers a side of his father that was hidden for decades.