Rudolph Edward Torrini (March 31, 1923 – September 5, 2018) was an American artist best known for his sculptures, wood carvings and bronze public monuments in the St. Louis area, including "The Immigrants", "The Union Soldier," and "Martin Luther King."
Torrini trained and taught Bob Cassilly,[1] founder of the City Museum in St. Louis, and also helped establish the Master of Fine Arts program at Fontbonne College.
Torrini had begun drawing during the war, and afterwards earned a BFA at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts (now Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts) at Washington University in St. Louis, then was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study for a year at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze in Florence, Italy in 1949.
Rudolph Torrini first worked as a jazz saxophone player and clarinetists during the 1930s and 40s, including performing as part of the Navy Band present at Franklin Delano Roosevelt's funeral.
A life long Catholic, many of his works have religious themes (for example "John Paul II", "St. Patrick"), while others commemorate groups or individuals, ("Italian Immigrants", "Martin Luther King") or explore the human body ("The Four Seasons and the Clouds").