Centauri -1961

THE MASTER PASSED AWAY - RIP

The Mater passed away on August 3, 2011.

We have lost an exceptional artist - a true Master of Beauty.

All our thoughts are with his family and friends.

Glazed Creamic Three-Element Vase - 1956

Marcello Fantoni

"A Glazed Creamic Three-Element Vase"

1956 

from Barbara Jakobson Collection

Sold at Christie's (2008)

SATIRO INNAMORATO - Antiques Roadshow

Appraised in Las Vegas, Nevada

By Stuart Slavid (Skinner, Boston)

August 2007 (aired May 2008)

MARCELLO FANTONI: Monographs

Ceramica come arte. Marcello Fantoni, ceramista scultore

Firenze, Salone delle Reali Poste

28 October-28 November 2000

Text Italian and English

Editor: Octavo

Marcello Fantoni. Omaggio agli antenati

Firenze, 2001

Text Italian and English

Editor: Polistampa

Marcello Fantoni. Una bella forma con un bel colore

Fiesole, Museo e Area Archeologica

1 - 10 octobre 2005

Text Italian and English

Editor: De Paoli Edizioni D'Arte

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Mongraphs available for purchase at http://www.libroco.it/

CERAMICS - 1950-1980

Samples of Marcello Fantoni's art work from a recent auction 

(Christie's, March 2009)

Three vases, 1960-1972 (my personal collection!)

Two vases and two jugs, 1968-1982

Five vases, 1954-1961

Three vases, 1956-1961

Vase, 1950

Abstract form, 1968

MARCELLO FANTONI: a Short Biography

Born in Florence on October 1, 1915, Marcello Fantoni registered at the Institute of Art at Porta Romana in 1927 to attend the course The Art of Ceramics, which at that time was taught by the ceramist Carlo Guerrini, artistic director of the Cantagalli factory. Other teachers also contributed to his artistic formation including Libero Andreotti and Bruno Innocenti in sculpture and Gianni Vagnetti in the figure. He graduated in '34 as a 'maestro' of art, and began working as a ceramist. In 1936, after having worked for a few months as the artistic director of a factory in Perugia, he established himself in the stables of Villa Fabbricotti in Florence and established the Fantoni Ceramic studio. Its production of serial and unique pieces had remarkable success at the Florentine Arts and Crafts Exhibit in '37, revealing itself in line with the most recent tendencies, so much so that at the beginning of hostilities his production had already received notable artistic and commercial attention in Italy and abroad. After the war years, when Fantoni was involved in the resistance, in '46 he began the creative and productive fervor that will allow him to enlarge his company, reaching at the beginning of the next decade the impressive size of over fifty collaborators. Among his employees there were many students who, in ceramics and other fields, would become excellent artisans and even famous artists. In the following decades, especially between '50 and '70, the success of his work continued to increase, his unique pieces of sculpture and vascular formations, characterized by a design in step with the contemporary artistic currents, like archaic stylization inspired by Etruscan models, rendered modern because of their modern handling of materials, glazes and colors. For this original spirit of modernity, his works entered in private collections and in the most important museums of the world: in the United States his works can be seen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York, the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Fine Art of Boston, the Currier Gallery, the Syracuse Museum. In Britain they are in the Victoria and Albert Museum of London, the City Art Gallery of Manchester, at Royal Scottish Museum of Edinburg. In Japan they are present at the Museum of Modern Art of Tokyo and Kyoto. In Italy they are represented at the International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza, the National Bargello Museum and at the Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe of the Uffizi. In his long and versatile career, Fantoni has completed works for churches, public and private buildings, schools, cinemas, theaters and ships cementing himself in both figurative and abstract ceramics and various metals, and qualifying himself also in the field of medalism. In 1970 he founded the International School of Ceramic Arts at his laboratory in via Bolognese in Florence where he still resides.