COLLECTING GUIDES A century of Venini glass Europe was bowing to the influence of art nouveau. But change was afoot and, in 1921, with the vision of one man, glassmaking was about to undertake a sea change thanks to one of the greatest names in modern Italian glass – Paolo Venini (1895-1959).
HEART OF GLASS Venini was born in Cusano, Italy, on January 12, 1895, to a middle-class Lombard family. As a young man he studied law in Milan. During WWI he was stationed near Venice where he became fascinated with the glass mosaics and stained glass of St Mark’s cathedral. After the war, Venini began a law practice but soon came under the influence of Venetian art and antiquities dealer Giacomo Cappellin (1887-1968) who convinced the young lawyer to join him as a business partner. Together in 1921 they formed a new Murano glass enterprise with dreams of producing something very different from what had been produced previously. It was an ambitious project which the Venetian artist Vittorio Zecchin (1878-1947) immediately decided to join, in the role of artistic director.
FORGING FORWARD
Alessandro Mendini (19312019) Arcimboldo, 2015, sold for €10,400 in 2017, image courtesy of Piasa
Forging Ahead
This year marks 100 years of the celebrated Murano glassmaker, Venini. Holly Johnson considers the artists whose work was at the heart of Italian glass
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lassmaking has been at centre of the Venetian island of Murano for centuries, with its unparalled quality of craftsmanship making it sought after across Europe and beyond. But, despite the island makers’ supremacy, by the end of the 19th century, in terms of creativity, they were looking like a spent force. While Murano’s makers still looked to the past for inspiration, the rest of
20 ANTIQUE COLLECTING
Right Carlo Scarpa
(1906-1978). A Neri e Rossi vase, sold for €241,000, against an estimate of €30,000€40,000, in 2012. Image courtesy of Christie’s
The company was built along traditional lines but sought to embracing the avant garde. In the same year, Zecchin created the famous vase Veronese, which was to become the symbol of the company. In 1925, following a dispute with Zecchin, Cappellin and Venini split their business in two. Venini’s business took the name Vetri Soffiati Muranesi Venini & C., along with a new, visionary art director, Napoleone Martinuzzi (1892-1977). Venini soon became synonymous with bold, coloured art glass and lighting at the cutting edge of contemporary aesthetics. Within years he was the most important glasswork on the island of Murano. From 1927 to 1932, he explored a series of new, techniques, including pasta vitrea (opaque glass), vetro incamiciato (layered glass), and vetro pulegoso (bubble glass) kickstarting experimental forms. Venini’s reputation for innovation grew through exhibitions at national fairs, including the Venice Biennale, Monza, and eventually the Triennale di Milano.
