“Frammenti III” — abstract totemic sculpture by Alberto Cabiddu, Pietra di Vicenza, 1998

“Frammenti III” — Abstract Totemic Sculpture by Alberto Cabiddu, Pietra di Vicenza, 1998

Carved in 1998 from Pietra di Vicenza — the honey-toned limestone quarried in the Colli Berici and prized since Palladio’s day — “Frammenti III” is a compact, powerfully sculptural totem by Italian artist Alberto Cabiddu. Standing 35 x 17 x 17 cm (13.8 x 6.7 x 6.7 in) on a fitted walnut base, the piece is built from a stack of interlocking planes, stepped notches, and one deep, spiraling void that curls through the block like a carved initial. Viewed from each side, the composition shifts entirely — a hallmark of Cabiddu’s practice, where a single stone yields several distinct silhouettes depending on the angle of approach.

The title, meaning “Fragments,” speaks to Cabiddu’s method: rather than modeling a single continuous form, he builds his totems from interrupted, abutting volumes, giving the piece the feel of an artifact assembled from broken pieces. The result sits at the crossroads of Cubist fragmentation and the pierced, biomorphic abstraction associated with Barbara Hepworth — the same interplay of solid mass and negative space that made her stone carvings so radical — while the blocky, stepped verticality recalls Constantin Brâncuși’s studio totems.

Cabiddu, born in Geneva in 1966, settled in the province of Vicenza in 1987 and is largely self-taught, having studied briefly under sculptor Agostino Gallio. For decades he worked in near-total privacy, uninterested in exhibiting; only in recent years has his output — carved almost exclusively from local Vicenza stone, marble, wood, and clay — begun reaching collectors. That scarcity, combined with the hand-worked immediacy of his surfaces, makes an early, dated piece like this a rare find.

A fitting centerpiece for a console, plinth, or shelf, “Frammenti III” rewards rotation — no two views are the same.

Frammenti III will be shipped insured overseas in a custom made wooden crate. Cost of transport to the US, Euro 325, is crate included.

Colors may slightly vary due to photographic lighting sources or your monitor settings. 

Wear consistent with age and use.

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