Nino Caruso donates 60 ceramic sculptures to Torgiano

Italian Ceramics - Sinulite by Nino CarusoOn March 13th a grand opening celebrated the permanent exhibition of 60 works by Nino Caruso, donated by the artist to the city of Torgiano (Umbria).

Caruso is Italy’s most renowned contemporary ceramic artist, internationally acclaimed both for his works and for his studies.

The collection is an ideal overview on his evolution as an artist since the Fifties, when he started to use traditional shapes – steles, columns, vases, oil lamps – as references for modern contemporary ceramic art.

In a very distinctive way, Nino Caruso breaks with Italian ceramic traditions while reflecting in his works a thorough understanding and appreciation of those traditions. Similarly, he embodies the European humanism while freely using forms and techniques from Japan such as haniwa and raku.

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Luca Della Robbia

Italian Ceramics - Madonna and Child by Luca della Robbia (c. 1475), Widener Collection - Photo credits: National Gallery of Art - USAThe story of the Della Robbia family begins in 1441-2 when Luca della Robbia, a cultivated and bright minded man, developed a new technique that would allow him to blend the magic of painting, sculpting and pottery making into a brand new form of artistry: the Architectural Ceramic Art.

His family was very well known in Florence for their textile business, which is somehow connected with the origin of their name: Della Robbia comes from Rubia (madder), a plant used in ancient times as a vegetable red dye for textile dyeing and for painting.

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