Highlights

by

A bull signed Ajo’. What an amazing coincidence!

A couple of weeks ago we published an article about Aldo Ajo’, a most distinguished Italian ceramic artist from Gubbio. Soon after a lady from the US got in touch with us to ask if we could provide her with some info on a beautiful ceramic work she owns, that is actually signed Ajò – Gubbio.

Now, we do not usually encourage appraisal or pottery identification inquiries, because we are not professionally prepared for the job. However we were intrigued by the lucky chance and we decided to ask Prof. Ettore Sannipoli, an experienced art critic and connoisseur of Ajo’s works, if he could have a look at the pictures of this amazing art work.

Prof. Sannipoli confirmed that the bull – that’s what we are talking about, a most beautiful bull! – is authentic: it was made from a mold or a model, perhaps in the Thirties.

Actually, dating the piece without having seen the item in person is quite challenging. Although Prof. Sannipoli has evidence that Ajo’ made some similarly shaped works at the beginning of the Thirties, it’s hard to determine without a close examination whether the bull is actually from that decade or if it was made later in time. Still the piece remains a most valuable collector’s prize.

One more coincidence: the bull was bought not far from Jessup, Pennsylvania, a “sister city” to Gubbio!

Thanks to our reader and privileged owner of Ajo’s bull and to Prof. Sannipoli for his time and kindness.

by

Meeting Italian ceramic artists: Antonella Cimatti

Our relationship with Antonella Cimatti was based on coincidences. Last year Manuela and I noticed one of her paperclay works, a crespina on a tall glass stem, on a design magazine and took a mental note of the name of the artist.

On a one day trip to Faenza during the Summer I tried to contact Antonella but she was out of town… Almost accidentally, however, I visited a temporary exhibition at the Mic where I was fascinated by her ceramic and light installation.

In November we went to visit a ceramic art exhibition at the Ab Ovo Gallery in Todi and we saw (and touched, with the permission of the Gallery owner…) two of her crespine.
A couple of weeks later Antonella sent us an email to establish a contact with us. The circle was closed!

Antonella Cimatti’s artistic path is extremely rich. Born in Faenza, where she still lives, she studied with Carlo Zauli, one of the most important artists of the 20th century. Since her graduation in Fine Arts in Bologna, she has been constantly experimenting new techniques and mediums, with a keen interest in design.

We interviewed her a few days ago.

TIPJ: Antonella, reading your CV, Manuela and I were very much impressed by the large number of  activities, studies and experiences you’ve been through. A short summary for our readers:
– internships abroad to study different techniques relating to pottery making, decoration and design;
– design projects with leading glass and ceramic companies
– participation to experimental art movements
– ceramic exhibitions, camps and contexts all over the world
Last, but not least, you have been teaching at the State Art Institute of Ceramics Ballardini since 1979. It really looks like you are “hungry” to learn and experiment. What is the drive behind your multiple activities?

A. Cimatti: I believe that a major commitment for an artist is to always keep up to date professionally. Indeed spontaneous creativity must without exception be complemented by high standards of professional competence in technique, technology and in the interpretation of contemporary art: first reading and observing, then the pleasure of testing, combining and confirming.
That’s why I’ve always been fascinated by experiments. It all started when I was a student, around ’75 and I tested the fusion of Murano glass mosaics on ceramic sheets and plates.
This is a technique that I later applied on larger ceramic panels, published by Nino Caruso in his book “Ceramic decoration”, and also on majolica during the 80’s. I made small diptychs and politychs and I decorated them with pearls and glass filaments for the exhibitions of the art group “The new ceramic” (La Nuova Ceramica), curated by Franco Solmi and Marilena Pasquali.

Continue reading →

by

Ugo La Pietra – Unity in Diversity

Mar. 17 – Nov. 20, 2011
Turin, Italy

Italy’s 150th anniversary will be celebrated in Turin with a huge art and craft workshop and showcase, titled Il Futuro nelle mani. Artieri domani (The Future in the hands. Artificers tomorrow). The curator of the exhibition, Enzo Biffi Gentili, who has already promoted significant initiatives dedicated to applied arts, intends it to be a display of all things new and original currently offered by Italy’s finest crafts.

One of the (many) initiatives in the program is “Unity in Diversity”, a project curated by Ugo La Pietra that will feature 21 head planters made by ceramic artists from Caltagirone (among them Giuseppe Branciforti, Alessandro Iudici, Nicolò Morales, Francesco Navanzino, Riccardo Varsallona). Each “head” represents one of the 20 Italian regions with its typical features and its distinctive characteristics. The last “head” is the symbol of Italy, as a unity.

The project pays a tribute to Caltagirone ceramics, to a tradition that has been alive for many centuries without losing the ability to innovate.

L’Unità nella Diversità
Officine Grandi Riparazioni
Corso Castelfidardo 22, Torino
Phone: +39 011-4992333

by

Lucio Fontana – Stations of the Cross 1947-1957

March 17 – April 30, 2011
Milano, Italy

Between 1947 and 1957 Lucio Fontana made three different Via Crucis – Stations of the Cross which are held to be particularly important since they give great insights into the artist’s conceptual development.

The first Via Crucis (1947), from a private collection in Parma, was made the year after the publishing of the first Manifesto of Spatialism (Primo Manifesto dello Spazialismo) where he stated that “Matter, colour and sound in motion are the phenomena whose simultaneous development makes up the new art”.

The second and the third Via Crucis were both part of charitable and socially useful projects that the artist shared with the architect Marco Zanuso. They were made between 1955 and 1957, when Fontana was feverishly experimenting, both in his sacred production and in his conceptual works: the Baroques, the Holes, the Stones, the Plasters, then his celebrated Slashes.

The side by side of the three Stations clearly show how Fontana departed from tradition to find his way towards stark conceptualism.

Lucio Fontana. Vie Crucis 1947-1957
Palazzo Lombardia
Via Galvani 27, Milano
Phone: +39 02 89420019

by

Giuseppe Macedonio – Ceramic Sculptor

Mar. 26 – Apr. 12, 2011

Naples, Italy

Giuseppe Macedonio’s (1906-1986) solo exhibition is about to start in Naples, in the beautiful setting of Castel Dell’Ovo.

For the very first time a large number of the artist’s works – some unpublished – have been gathered to highlight his contribution to Neapolitan ceramic art throughout the 20th century.

The focus is on his architectural pottery: furniture and decorative ceramic sculptures, large vases and many large works made for public areas and monuments.

Macedonio learnt to make pottery as a young kid, serving his apprenticeship with renowned ceramicists in Naples and Vietri sul Mare, where he worked at the ICS, the company founded by Max Melamerson. In Vietri the artist learnt most of the pottery making techniques and met the German ceramic artists who had settled in the city and were to revive its fame.

In 1938 he founded his own workshop “I due fornaciari” in Naples, together with Romolo Vetere, a fellow artists and sculptor. A most important experience for Macedonio, who focused his talents on pottery sculptures and large panels.

Continue reading →

by

Meeting Italian ceramic artists: Aldo Ajo’

Aldo Ajo’ was born in 1901 in Gubbio, where he spent all his life. The full and wonderful life of a great artist.

Very well known in his native region, Ajo’s talents were internationally acknowledged only after his death, in 1982, when his ceramic art was paid the tribute it truly deserved.

Presently there are no doubts about his right to be included among the most important Italian ceramic artists from the 20th century, thanks to the excellent contribution of many enlightened art critics and curators, such as Luciano Marziano, Piero Luigi Menichetti, Secondo Sannipoli, Giovanni Rampini, Gian Carlo Bojani, Fabrizio Cece, Ettore Sannipoli. Although we never indulge in long lists of names, mostly unknown to our International readers, we decided to make an exception as our way of saying thank you to those who devoted their energies to bring such a genius to our attention.

Continue reading →

by

Emilio Scanavino – The Vocation for Plastic Art

Feb. 17 – Mar. 26, 2011
Turin, Italy

Mostly renowned as a informal-abstractist painter, Emilio Scanavino (1922-1986) considered his first steps in ceramic sculpture of the utmost importance for his artistic development.

He started working with clay in the early Fifties, in Tullio Mazzotti’s studio in Albissola Marina. Fascinated with the possibilities that a third dimension offered him, he experimented with clay, then with bronze, both materials that permanently entered his artistic repertoire.

Continue reading →

by

Terracolta – The Role of Rome and Lazio in the History of Italian Pottery

Jan. 25 – Feb. 15, 2010
Rome – Italy

A book and an exhibition will celebrate the art pottery made in Rome and Lazio.

The exhibition focuses on modern art and features 59 works, made by 14 eminent Italian ceramic artists. Emilio Greco (1913-1995) and Umberto Mastroianni (1910-1988) open the historical itinerary, followed by Giacomo Alessi from Caltagirone in Sicily, Cinzia Catena, Nino Caruso, Tommaso Cascella, Elettra Cipriani from Florence, Franco Ciuti, Marco Ferri, Antonio Gabriele, Antonio Grieco, Nedda Guidi from Gubbio, Riccardo Monachesi, Speranza Neri.

The book “Terracolta – La ceramica Romana e Laziale” curated by Norberto G. Kuri is a survey on the work of artists, who chose to work in Rome or in the surrounding areas, through the ages, from antiquity to recent years. A large section offers a profound insight on the 20th century, highlighting the outstanding ceramic works from the Liberty and Art-Déco time – if you are in Rome, do visit the House of the Owls in Villa Torlonia – and the magic of the Sixties and the Seventies.

Terracolta
Musei di San Salvatore in Lauro
P.zza San Salvatore in Lauro, 15, Roma
Ph: +39 06 6865493
Email: info@ilcigno.org

by

Mario Pezzi – Panels of Italy

Jan. 8 – Feb. 3, 2010
Faenza – Italy

This year we Italians celebrate the 150th anniversary of the our country’s Unification. One of the first Italian ceramic artists to celebrate this meaningful event is Mario Pezzi.

His exhibition features 11 majolica panels that ironically and cleverly describe the vices (and virtues) of our country.

Hard to remain cold to his art and the themes he’s chosen to deal with. The Acrobat promising less taxes and more money is certainly a hot subject for most Italians, but it’s also the timeless character of the comedy of life, wherever it takes place.

Continue reading →

by

Pino Deodato – The Circus of Art

Jan. 15 – Feb. 18, 2011
Lucca – Italy

Pino Deodato work very much reflects his life: simple yet not simplistic, intimate and rich of positive values. It’s an art made of balance and a healthy sense of measure, on the pursuit of truths and meanings that mankind seems to have lost.

This specific project starts from a naked clown, looking at life with the playful eyes of a child.
He embodies Art, that does not need any ornaments (clothes) for its creative effort.

Continue reading →