Friday, October 29, 2010

Glazed Creamic Three-Element Vase - 1956


Marcello Fantoni
"A Glazed Creamic Three-Element Vase"
1956 
from Barbara Jakobson Collection
Sold at Christie's (2008)

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

SATIRO INNAMORATO - Antiques Roadshow


Appraised in Las Vegas, Nevada
By Stuart Slavid (Skinner, Boston)
August 2007 (aired May 2008)

Monday, October 11, 2010

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

Friday, October 8, 2010

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.

MARCELLO FANTONI: an Italian Ceramist

This blog is dedicated to the art of Marcello Fantoni a very important Italian ceramist who celebrated his 95th birthday on October 1st 2010.


Marcello Fantoni and his assistant Norma - Florence February 2008