Vallauris Biennial pays tribute to Italian ceramic art

As part of the 25th edition of the Vallauris Biennial, the exhibition Terra d’Italia, which can be visited from June 28 to November 4, 2019, has been curated by Claudia Casali, director of the MIC in Faenza.

The host country for this edition of the Vallauris Biennial is Italy, and the exhibition aims to present theevolution of Italianceramic sculpture and at the same time pay homage to the Faenza Prize, which celebrated its 80th anniversary last year.

“The evolution of Italian ceramic sculpture (and not only),” explains Claudia Casali, “is deeply connected to this event, which over the years has seen the participation of important artists who have distinguished themselves through different artistic languages.”

Two themes are addressed in this review: the evolution of figuration and gesture in matter.

" Figuration has always been a leitmotif of Italian art and, in sculpture it has been more treated by artists such as Arturo Martini since the 1930s. In fact, in this period ceramics found wide artistic recognition precisely thanks to authors such as Martini, represented in the main Venetian Biennales. To him we owe the most poetic interpretations of the fictile material, courageously tackled in large dimensions. From Martini was born an interesting vein that over the years has seen many interpreters express themselves in this theme, to arrive at the new hyperrealist generations," added the curator.

The artists related to this section are Salvatore Meli, Fausto Melotti, Aligi Sassu, Luigi Ontani, Mimmo Paladino, Guerrino Tramonti, Della Porta, Enrico Baj, Ugo Nespolo, Giuseppe Ducrot, Andrea Salvatori, Alessandro Gallo, Paolo Polloniato, and Mattia Vernocchi.

"The subject matter has been treated in its informal declination especially since the mid-1950s. Maximum creator of this expression is Lucio Fontana, represented here with a classic icon, the Bullfight, a theme widely dealt with by artists and that lies somewhere between figuration and informal. From Fontana’s theoretical elaborations come all the manifestations that followed, especially in the 1960s. The gesture supports the material and becomes an expressive form par excellence, reaching manifestations that are also current." The artists in this section are Lucio Fontana, Carlo Zauli, Nanni Valentini, Alfonso Leoni, Giacinto Cerone, Alessandro Roma, Nero/Alessandro Neretti, Silvia Celeste Calcagno, and Salvatore Arancio.

A space in the exhibition will be dedicated to Nicola Boccini’s interactive ceramics.

Terra d’Italia will be flanked by a tribute to ceramic design, which has had its highest expression in Italy since the 1950s. Thanks to Gio Ponti ’s work with the Monza biennials (later the Milan triennials), Domus magazine and before that the revival of the Richard Ginori industry, ceramics has had a central significance in the rebirth of industrial ceramic manufactures, in giftware and wall coverings, establishing itself worldwide for its excellent design. Thus, design objects created by Ettore Sottsass, Matteo Thun, Ambrogio Pozzi, Denis Santachiara, Antonia Campi, Bianco Ghini, Ugo La Pietra, Luisa Bocchietto, Diego Dutto, Franco Raggi, Pietro Gaeta, Marco Ferreri, and Mimmo Paladino will be on display.

The Vallauris Biennial was born in 1968 and received from its inception the patronage of Pablo Picasso, who had been working in Madoura since 1948 making ceramics. He gave a fundamental impetus to the revival of sculpture and ceramic production in the south of France.

Pictured is Lucio Fontana’s The Bullfight.

Vallauris Biennial pays tribute to Italian ceramic art

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.