September 11, 2016–January 8, 2017
LE STANZE DEL VETRO
Fondazione Giorgio Cini
Island of San Giorgio Maggiore
30124, Venice
Italy
Hours: Thursday–Tuesday 10am–7pm
info [at] lestanzedelvetro.org
info [at] cini.it
The autumn exhibition at LE STANZE DEL VETRO will be dedicated to Paolo Venini, enlightened and creative entrepreneur.
Exhibiting 300 works that recount his creative vision as well as of those artists who collaborated with him over the years such as Tyra Lundgren, Gio Ponti, Riccardo Licata, Ken Scott, Massimo Vignelli and Tobia Scarpa.
Milanese by birth and Muranese by choice, Paolo Venini (1895–1959) was a great protagonist of 20th century glass, and made a decisive contribution to keeping it alive with his enthusiastic works over the course of 40 years. In his important role as cultured, enlightened and creative entrepreneur, Paolo Venini will be the focus of the autumn exhibition at LE STANZE DEL VETRO: Paolo Venini and his Furnace, curated by Marino Barovier, will run on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore from September 11, 2016 to January 8, 2017. Through 300 works the exhibition will feature the creations of Paolo Venini and some of the artists who collaborated with him in the period following World War II.
Thanks to careful research, the exhibition, along with its catalogue, features the company production, which was shaped by the specific choices made by Paolo Venini, leading, for example, to series such as the “Diamante” (Diamond) crystal glass in the second half of the 1930s. It was however, in the 1950s that Venini devoted himself assiduously to the creation of new glass to great acclaim at the Milan Triennale and the Venice Biennale, but also in the international events for the support and promotion of Italian design and craftsmanship that were held both in Europe and the United States. Several glass works by Paolo Venini were conceived from a refined and innovative reinterpretation of some of the traditional Murano techniques.
The role of Venini and his extraordinary personality will be at the centre of the exhibition Paolo Venini and his Furnace, but, at the same time, it will also feature the creations of those who collaborated with him episodically between the 1930s and 1950s, called in by Venini or having arrived themselves due to their interest in the quality of his furnace’s work: the Swedish ceramicist Tyra Lundgren (1897–1979), architects Gio Ponti (1891–1979), Massimo Vignelli (1931–2014) and Tobia Scarpa (1935), painters Eugène Berman (1899–1972) and Riccardo Licata (1929–2014), designers Piero Fornasetti (1913–88) and Grete Korsmo (1917–2010).
On occasion of the show Paolo Venini and his Furnace, a catalogue will be published, edited by Skira for LE STANZE DEL VETRO, and curated by Marino Barovier and Carla Sonego.
Information
Production: Fondazione Giorgio Cini and Pentagram Stiftung
Curator: Marino Barovier
Tickets: Free entrance
Catalogue: Skira for LE STANZE DEL VETRO, curated by Marino Barovier and Carla Sonego
Press contact
Fondazione Giorgio Cini: stampa [at] cini.it / T +39 041 2710280
LE STANZE DEL VETRO: press [at] lestanzedelvetro.org / T +39 345 2535925
