Iridescenze – Lusterware in the 20th century
Until December 31, 2009
The exhibition features luster pottery by Alpinolo Magnini, Ubaldo Grazia, Edgardo Abbozzo and their followers, some of them still active in Deruta.
Together with Angelo Micheletti and Francesco Briganti, Alpinolo Magnini was the artist who made the revival of ceramic art in Deruta possible and encouraged its first steps into modern age.
A skilled painter and an excellent ceramicist himself, he actively supported the work of his fellow artists and contributed to the education of a new generation of pottery makers as the first Director of the newly founded Museum of Ceramics and also as Director of the School of Ceramics.
Ubaldo Grazia adopted a different approach to the relaunch of Deruta pottery. He looked for inspiration at the Renaissance pottery that had made Deruta so famous in the 15th and 16th century and started from there. In 1921 he founded his own pottery factory, still one of the most important in town.
Grazia and Magnini had in common a passion for lusterware, that helped them establish a profitable relationship with Aldo Ajò from Gubbio, Ilario Ciaurro from Orvieto and Alfredo Santarelli from Gualdo Tadino. Importantly, their experiments with lusterware attracted to Deruta the Russian painter David Zipirovich, who signed some of the most valuable ceramic works of the Twenties.
After a short gap, the production of luster was to start again under the influence of Edgardo Abbozzo. Born in Perugia in 1937, Abbozzo won his first prize as ceramic artist in 1953 and soon became one of the key characters in Italian modern art.
His contribution to pottery making in Deruta is huge: he enthusiastically researched and revived long forgotten techniques while experimenting with new ones, never tired of molding clay to express his intimate liaison with his territory. At 25 he was appointed Director of the School of Ceramics, forging new generations of artists and craftsmen with his inextinguishable ardor and talent.
Antica Fornace Grazia – Deruta
Tel: 199.151.123 (from Italy) from 10.00 to 18.00
infoline@sistemamuseo.it
info@derutamagiadiunarte.it