The history of Murano glass animals on display in Venice, with an important collection

From March 22 to July 25, 2021, the Le Stanze del Vetro project of the Giorgio Cini Foundation onlus and Pentagram Stiftung adds a chapter to its series with the exhibition The Glass Ark. The Animal Collections of Pierre Rosenberg, welcomed as usual to the spaces of the island of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice: the purpose of the exhibition, curated by Giordana Naccari and Cristina Beltrami, is to retrace the history of Murano glass through the unprecedented angle of glass animals, with a display of 750 pieces, including elephants, hippos, cats, giraffes, bears, parrots, fish, turtles, foxes and insects (the latter made in full scale) belonging to the personal collection of Pierre Rosenberg (Paris, 1936), the Louvre’s historic director, collected over 30 years of frequenting Venice.

Murano glass animals were once relegated to the realm of souvenirs or were at best considered a kind of kiln divertissement: Rosenberg thus demonstrated a genuine passion untethered from fashions, creating an original and vast collection, which the exhibition only partially accounts for. Also part of the collection are specimens from the most famous series such as Napoleone Martinuzzi’s pulegosi, Tyra Lundgren’s volatili, or Toni Zuccheri’s executed for Venini. And again, specimens by Seguso Vetri d’Arte, zebrates by Barovier & Toso, aquariums by Alfredo Barbini, and, of course, lots of animals made by less famous but still interesting glassworks for the technical and formal experimentation of 20th-century Murano. Then there are also objects by living artists such as Cristiano Bianchin, Isabelle Poilprez, Maria Grazia Rosin, and Giorgio Vigna.

The installation is curated by two young set designers, Denise Carnini and Francesca Pedrotti, while the exhibition will also be accompanied by an animation video made by Giulia Savorani, a visual artist and director who, starting from the drawings on glass, has given life to a fairy tale conceived for the occasion by Giordana Naccari. Completing the exhibition is a catalog published by Skira, which also contains an interview with Rosenberg and essays by the two curators, Jean-Luc Olivié (curator of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris) and Rosa Barovier Mentasti. The exhibition is free admission; more information can be found at www.lestanzedelvetro.org.

Image: A donkey, a monkey and a catin zebra glass, Barovier & Toso, 1950s. Courtesy Le Stanze del Vetro

The history of Murano glass animals on display in Venice, with an important collection

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.