Author: Tiziana Manzetti

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Cantagalli Pottery and the Magic Cockerel

Last week a new friend, Anne, wrote a comment in our blog requesting some info on Cantagalli.

Cantagalli trademarkI found the post very intriguing for a number of reasons.
First of all, I wondered why Cantagalli is so popular in UK and US, while he never reached the same star status here in Italy.
Secondly, I was puzzled by the quantity of ceramic works marked Cantagalli that are available over the Internet.
Lastly, it made me want to investigate on Cantagalli’s version of Della Robbia’s terracottas.

I made some research and I noticed that there is not much info handy on the subject on the web… So I went through my books and art magazines and I found some interesting facts.

That gave me the idea to reply to Anne’s question with an article that can be useful to collector’s who love the magic cockerel but do not know much about his father: Ulisse Cantagalli.

About Ulisse Cantagalli
Ulisse Cantagalli was a superb artist and an even better businessman.

Not much of him is known before 1878 when he took over the family factory in Florence and started to produce highly decorative Italian ceramics in the Renaissance style. At the time the taste for this kind of pottery was a very hot trend in the English speaking countries.
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The International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza celebrates 100 years

A visit to the Museum: Italian ceramics and much more…
The MIC - International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza The MIC – International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza – is reputed to be the world’s largest ceramic Museum and one of the liveliest art institutions in Italy.
Its collections provide the visitor with a complete overview of the history of Italian pottery and International ceramics, the evolution of pottery making techniques and the evolution of the visual ceramic art into figurative art, sculpture and design.

The collections encompass Italian ceramic works from the Middle Ages to the Present. A nice section displays the “functional” Italian pottery over time from the North to the South of the country: pieces molded for everyday use, whose features are strongly connected to their regional heritage.

Although Italian pottery is the core of the Museum’s holdings, most interesting collections from all over the world promote the understanding and appreciation of International ceramic art and history.

The Museum is namely proud to display important works from the Pre-Columbian America, the Classic Greece, the Roman Age, the Far and Middle East and the largest collection in Italy of Muslim and Hispano Moresque pottery. Continue reading →

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ConCreta 2008 – International Exhibition of Ceramic Sculpture

March 16 – June 30, 1008
Certaldo, Palazzo Pretorio

Palazzo Pretorio in CertaldoThis is the Second Edition of a very successful exhibition, organized for the first time last year by the International Ceramic School La Meridiana and the Galleria Gulliver. It is held in Certaldo, a lovely town in Tuscany, not far from Florence and Siena.

The art works will be displayed in an outstanding location: the garden and the interior of Palazzo Pretorio, a very handsome building which could be in itself a reason for visiting Certaldo. The Palace is 1000 years old and it has been recently restored to its original condition. Its facade is richly decorated with ceramic coat of arms, two of them made by Della Robbia. In the interior there are beautiful frescoes by Benozzo Gozzoli.

No better location could be chosen to highlight the close relationship between Ceramic Art and the Tuscany countryside, a timeless source of inspiration for ceramic artists.

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Bruny Sartori – Italian Art Pottery

March 29 – May 11, 2008
Brescia – Italy

Italian ceramic sculpture by Bruny SartoriSartori’s works are “earthenware ideas”. They have mysterious origins and appear to be completely uninfluenced by his heritage, the artistic traditions of his land, his experiences.

Looking at his ceramic sculptures, the first impression one gets is that they belong to the earth they are made of , so strict is the relationship between the artifact and the material. Just as if time had stopped and the material had become solid.

His organic and abstract shapes, along with his figures are the key characters of Sartori’s creative themes, such as “Meteors” and “Geologic Echos”.

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Loza dorada – The Hispano-Moresque Ceramics and the Origins of Italian Majolica

Hispano-Moresque ceramicIn 711 a small army of North African Berbers invaded Spain and established an Iberian Islamic culture that would last for over 700 years.

This event was to make a major contribution to the development of art pottery in Europe.

Moors were great potters. Their techniques had traveled with them through North Africa to the Iberian peninsula, where they became well established, possibly as early as the 11th century.

They manufactured elaborate tin glazed pottery and metallic lusters which were still unknown in Europe. The success of their ceramics was immediate and soon they began to export them all over Europe.

Italian people were passionate about Hispano-Moresque pottery.
Local potters had never seen anything like that and wanted to investigate those innovative techniques. Collectors just loved them and ordered celebration plates, apothecary jars and tableware.

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Vetralla’s Last Potter

Sometimes, when I have some leisure time – not very often I’m afraid – I like to explore the neighborhood of Viterbo where I have been living for the past 5 years. I must admit that I still need to learn a lot about this rich area known as Etruria. Italian pottery artist Chello LalloIt is an untouched and charming area half way between Rome and Tuscany, where Etruscan and Roman heritage continue to live.

Well, as I said, I was driving on the Via Cassia when I decided to stop in Vetralla. My friend Mary Jane had told me about an old potter working there and I decided to pay him a visit. I’ll never thank her enough.

I had to stop a couple of times and ask for directions. I could not believe my eyes: the place I was looking for is a dark grotto on the hillside where the only light is from the doorway and a bare light bulb. Felice, the last “pilaro” (pot maker) in Vetralla, works there, just as his ancestors used to do.
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Luigi Ontani –MAMbo: Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna

January 23 – May 4, 2008
Bologna – Italy

Bonaventurarte, 1998 - Ceramic - Collezione GropelloOne of the foremost Italian artists working today, Luigi Ontani (Italian, born in 1943) has redefined the image of the contemporary artist through his works. His installations, ceramic sculptures and tableaux vivants (living paintings) are a landmark in the history of performance art and photography.

Ontani describes his art as “the adventure I live as a person of art”.
As a matter of fact, he uses his own body as the medium for communication and by means of costumes and masks he assumes the fictional identities of his favorite heroes from mythology, fairytales, history and art history. He said: “I live this ambiguity with irony and aspiring to harmony. My art is the adventure I live on myself.”
As the subject of his art, Ontani can live art, create art, and express his love for art.

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The “Arlecchini” from Montelupo in the History of Italian Ceramics

Italian ceramics history: MontelupoMade with earth, water and fire, ceramics are by definition functional to human life.

Since the very beginning of ceramic making, though, the need to go beyond the sheer utilitarianism pushed the artist to use clay as a way of expressing ideas, feelings and meanings.

During the Renaissance Italian potters achieved the perfect union of function and art that would bring Italian ceramics world wide celebrity.
Noble families and wealthy merchants were in competition for the most richly decorated istoriato wall plates, whose subjects were very often derived from religion, myth and history.

Simple people certainly could not understand nor afford this kind of traditional Italian ceramics. They mostly used pottery for functional purposes, although here and there some local ceramic trends developed for the community to enjoy. One of the most worth mentioning is the “Arlecchini” from Montelupo, in Tuscany.

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“Effetti Personali” – Contemporary ceramic works by Giorgio Laveri

January 31 – March 8, 2008
Turin – Italy

laveri2.jpg“Effetti Personali” is an amazing exhibition. Laveri’s extra large Italian ceramic works are the eye-catching result of a new attitude of looking at and rethinking the simple objects that surround us and belong to our everyday routine.

Laveri highlights and provides with a new dignity the apparently meaningless things that cross our path everyday, without having the chance of being noticed.
Their role in our life is reversed: they become giant artworks, grab our attention, escape death through the miracle of the firing.

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Hey! That’s us!!! Look what they say about our Italian ceramics site.

We were just running an exciting tour over the Internet to find out how fast our popularity is improving when we stumbled upon this comment, posted here on Delicious.

eBay’s real competition — its customers

I have bought a few pieces of Italian ceramics on eBay from a seller named Tiziana. She just launched the phenomenal new website behind this link. If two moms in rural Italy can produce a site of this quality, eBay gets the first sale only. Big trouble.
Posted on Oct 02 2007

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