To all of our readers who celebrate Easter,
we wish you a truly wonderful break.
We also wish to send a message of hope and love
to all the people who are mourning their dearest one
and who lost their homes and belongings
in the recent earthquake in Abruzzo.
Our heart is there with them.
Manuela and Tiziana
We made it. It’s always complicated to get organized with husbands and children to go to art events. They are not in the least interested but … Manuela and I have a secret weapon: GOOD FOOD!
We discovered a couple of years ago a nice wine bar in Arezzo, with excellent food, home made local dishes with fresh ingredient from the area. You know, ribollita, white beans, finocchiona, pecorino … Suddenly no one had any objection to a Sunday off and we met in Arezzo, under a cloudy sky, excited to see so many Della Robbia works in a single place. Continue reading
April 5-19, 2009
Nove – Italy
Each year the Museum of Ceramics in Nove celebrates Easter with an exhibition of Ceramic Eggs made by Italian pottery artists.
There is no limit to the freedom of the artist in creating their egg-shaped works, and the results are often beyond expectations, as you can see from our short selection of pieces on display last year.
The exhibition will start next Sunday, in the Sala Fabris of the Museum and it’ll be open Sat/Sun and on holidays 10 am – 12.30 pm and 3.30 – 7.00 pm.
The egg is a worldwide symbol of the start of new life, rebirth and new beginnings.
On 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.
In 1471 Luca della Robbia bequeathed his successful factory to his nephew Simone. He didn’t trust Andrea (1435-1525), whom he believed too concentrated on getting the highest revenue from the family business.
Actually, he was more or less right, if we consider that after his death Andrea massively increased the production of glazed terracotta. However the quality of the pieces did not suffer
much from it. At least in the beginning.
Andrea was a very good artist with a businessman approach to what he considered the family “company”: he increased the number of subjects so as to please both Catholic institutions and laical Customers who favored his glazed terra-cotta, that – if not cheaper than marble – was by far easier to ship and install.
The 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.
According to Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), the famous biographer of Renaissance painters, sculptors and architects, Luca della Robbia’s technique was so revolutionary that he’d be praised for it for many centuries to come. He explained how it was not such a hard work to make a clay sculpture and the only reason why clay had not been used much so far was that it could not be preserved over time. Luca, after many experiments, managed to invent a special mixture of minerals. This glaze, used to coat the sculptures before the firing in a suitable kiln, would make them almost eternal.
March 7 – 30, 2009
Castellamonte – Italy
“Terre e Territori” (Clays and Territories) promises to be an extremely interesting and rich exhibition, gathering more than 200 ceramic works signed by a man (and an artist, a designer, an architect, a great teacher, a journalist, a film director …) who stands out for his contribution to Italian Modern Art.
Since the 60’s he has been exploring the relationship between human beings and their environment and how it affects the evolution of the objects they use, the habits they develop, their perceptions of the space surrounding them, their communication.
Fascinated by visual media, be it new technology or traditional handcraftsmanship, La Pietra has used many of them to carry on his researches on everyday objects, to him useful functional tools, but also symbols of a specific decorative culture.
Pottery making has been part of his artistic evolution since the 80’s, when he started to work on the idea of a positive interaction between industrial design and the rich imagery of Italian ceramic craftsmanship. With very interesting results, indeed.
April 11-12-13, 2009
Urbania – Italy
An educational talk and guided tour will focus on the close relationship between Renaissance art in Urbino and Casteldurante pottery.
During the Renaissance the Duchy of Urbino, whom Casteldurante (now Urbania) belonged to, was known to be a most fertile background for Arts. The Dukes of Urbino ruled over a rich court, with broad cultural interests, that attracted a variety of artists.
Already well known in the previous centuries for their good quality earthenware production, after 1520 the local potters specialized in the making of istoriato majolica, that was to become a worldwide symbol of Italian Renaissance pottery. They were certainly encouraged by the enlightened attitude of the Dukes from Urbino and inspired by the success of the figurative painters working at Court.
February 28 – March 8, 2009
Parma, Italy
In 1913, a young Sicilian noblewoman, Maria Giulia Moncada di Paternò, married the Marquis Giacomo Carrega-Bertolini and moved into his Villa del Ferlaro in Collecchio. She had learned some pottery making techniques in Sicily and she decided to make some pieces for her own pleasure. She was a gifted ceramic artist and her works were very much appreciated by her friends and visitors.
After the II World War she decided to change her hobby into an entrepreneurial activity. She hired young people from the neighborhood and personally trained them. They soon became the key to success of the newborn Ceramica del Ferlaro.
Maria Giulia’s last work is the “Tahitienne”, made in 1951. She left the management of the company to her son, who contributed to its growth with his open minded attitude towards contemporary art trends. He loved hunting and his passion inspired a successful collection of game pieces.
Famous designers and architects worked with Ceramica del Ferlaro in the Seventies. Their pieces are a valuable part of the historical collection of the company and sought after collectors’ items.
A special exhibition of pottery made by Ceramica del Ferlano from the 30’s to the 70’s will be held in Parma during the Spring edition of Mercante in Fiera, the international trade-fair of modernism, antiques, art and design.
Ceramica del Ferlaro
Fiere di Parma – Mercante in Fiera
Parma
Phone: 0039 0521 9961
Email: info@fierediparma.it
