The paper describes the history of Manifattura Zaccagnini from Florence, his artists and his achievements, to set a framework for the analysis of the cooperation with Walt Disney Productions, which in the early post-war time led to the production of a rich series of figurines of characters of the most famous Disney cartoons. The sculptures, mostly modeled by Mario Bandini, are high quality ceramics, which often remind, in their composition and decoration choices, other artists active at Zaccagnini in the Thirties.

Giorgio Levi

Giorgio Levi, triestino di nascita e pisano di adozione, è stato professore ordinario di Informatica fino al 2012: uno dei fondatori della prestigiosa scuola pisana, ricercatore noto a livello internazionale, insignito dell’ordine del Cherubino. Da anni collezionista di ceramica italiana del primo novecento, si è trasformato in studioso, dedicandosi alla riscoperta e valorizzazione di ceramisti, manifatture e distretti ceramici dimenticati o mai studiati in modo scientifico. Ha pubblicato 7 libri e curato 2 mostre.

This article pays tribute to Lyda Levi, a Milanese designer and entrepreneur whose role in the development of Italian craft and design in the postwar period has been forgotten. Born in 1922, Lyda fled Nazi persecution to Switzerland during the Second World War. When she returned to Milan in 1945, she was involved in the so-called Exodus operation that helped the Holocaust survivors to mígrate to Palestine. In 1946 architect Piero Bottoni, appointed Special Commissioner of the Triennale di Milano by the Committee of National Liberation, hired Lyda to collaborate in the organization of the 8th Triennale, which launched her in the fields of design and applied arts. After participating in T8, she was in charge of the craft section in the Public Relations Office for the Marshall Plan from 1948 to 1953. In 1956, during a trip to the United States for the magazine House Beautiful, she got acquainted in San Francisco with Elinor and John McGuire and their rattan furniture line. Some years later, she launched the successfull Lyda Levi-McGuire furniture line which combined new American trends with the expertise of Italian designers and craftsmen.

Giorgio Levi

Giorgio Levi, triestino di nascita e pisano di adozione, è stato professore ordinario di Informatica fino al 2012: uno dei fondatori della prestigiosa scuola pisana, ricercatore noto a livello internazionale, insignito dell’ordine del Cherubino. Da anni collezionista di ceramica italiana del primo novecento, si è trasformato in studioso, dedicandosi alla riscoperta e valorizzazione di ceramisti, manifatture e distretti ceramici dimenticati o mai studiati in modo scientifico. Ha pubblicato 7 libri e curato 2 mostre.

Exactly twenty years after the exhibition in Trieste (Italy) that for the first time brought together and critically studied the artistic and human path by the designer Anita Pittoni, a new contribution to her knowledge is outlined by the fabric historians Rossella Cuffaro and Laura Vasselli. In the context of the social and taste changes caused by the First world war, when women were still required to work only for the family, the first women-artists who manage to get themselves talked about and finally dress the bodies free from constraints. An remarkable voyage in the women’s periodicals of the Twenties and Thirties introduces us to the beginnings of Italian fashion, indeed of “vestire italianamente”. The focus of the article presents the magazine “Lil. Lavori in lana” (Working with Wool), directed by the artisan artist Anita Pittoni in which shows to interested women how to perform her exclusive knitted-models of sweaters and dresses to be comfortable, and to be in step with the times, without useless frills. For Pittoni the avant-garde filter (particularly in futurism and constructivism) is the key to generating traditional feminine fashion and more. The essential words of his expressive language has a geometric nature and their abstract identity teaches us to perceive the need for a new style, for a new woman who wants to emancipate herself and become independent. The great culture of materials allows her to explore the full potential of the yarns; the instinctive and rapid execution of the sketches make her capable of poetically realizing her ideas and we perceive the pleasure of experimentation. The words, taken from some of her editorials and articles, also give us the ability of Pittoni to tell and tell about herself.

Giorgio Levi

Giorgio Levi, triestino di nascita e pisano di adozione, è stato professore ordinario di Informatica fino al 2012: uno dei fondatori della prestigiosa scuola pisana, ricercatore noto a livello internazionale, insignito dell’ordine del Cherubino. Da anni collezionista di ceramica italiana del primo novecento, si è trasformato in studioso, dedicandosi alla riscoperta e valorizzazione di ceramisti, manifatture e distretti ceramici dimenticati o mai studiati in modo scientifico. Ha pubblicato 7 libri e curato 2 mostre.

The essay, after a brief introduction to first post-war Trieste and a quick biographical overview of the artist and his family, reconstructs the initial phase of the artistic and professional activity of Anita Pittoni. This phase, due to the scarcity of sources, has long been wrapped in a rather vague narrative full of inaccuracies and news not supported by adequate documentation. Often also due to misleading statements, released many years later and subsequently published by the same Pittoni. Thanks to finding new documentation in public and private archives, it was therefore possible to identify with a good approximation the date of foundation of his Decorative Art Studio and also prove that, since 1924, she made handmade garments. The text continues with the analysis of the fundamental contribution given, in the first years of activity of the Studio, by his two friends Marion and Wanda Wulz and by the painter and graphic designer Marcello Claris. The first exhibitions in Trieste are then documented, in which Anita presents her creations and the first positive feedbacks from local critics. We continue with the more detailed analysis of his first major personal exhibition held in Rome in December 1929. Thanks to the discovery of the catalog of the exhibition and the subsequent comparison with an important collection of images of the time it was possible to identify and date with certainty a significant core of his creations of that period: from large-format decorative panels, to cushions to accessories. We then proceed with a formal evaluation of his most significant creations, in particular of the decorative tapestries, inserting them from a stylistic point of view in a national and international context. The important critical reactions following the exhibition are also documented, which determine a fundamental turning point in the career of the artist who in a few months is invited to the most prestigious national exhibitions in the sector. In conclusion of the essay, a review of his creations by Arturo Bragaglia published in Brescia in 1930 is presented, particularly interesting from the critical and historical artistic point of view.

Giorgio Levi

Giorgio Levi, triestino di nascita e pisano di adozione, è stato professore ordinario di Informatica fino al 2012: uno dei fondatori della prestigiosa scuola pisana, ricercatore noto a livello internazionale, insignito dell’ordine del Cherubino. Da anni collezionista di ceramica italiana del primo novecento, si è trasformato in studioso, dedicandosi alla riscoperta e valorizzazione di ceramisti, manifatture e distretti ceramici dimenticati o mai studiati in modo scientifico. Ha pubblicato 7 libri e curato 2 mostre.

“Servitore di due padroni”. Le sculture di Lucio Fontana al Cinema Arlecchino di Milano (1948).
L’articolo analizza l’insieme delle plastiche ceramiche e in “falsa ceramica” realizzato da Fontana per il Cinema Arlecchino di Milano progettato dagli architetti Roberto Menghi e Mario Righini nel 1948. Le vicende che hanno portato alla realizzazione del sistema decorativo (oggi dislocato presso la Fondazione Prada, Milano e in collezioni private) oltre a trarre da un ingiusto oblio l’intervento considerato “decorativo”, appunto, evidenziano come gli artisti siano stati chiamati, insieme agli architetti e agli intellettuali, a fare da motore alla rinascita delle città italiane dell’immediato dopoguerra e come Fontana, tra gli altri, abbia avviato collaborazioni, come nel caso della sala cinematografica, con professionisti di spicco della scena milanese. Inoltre permette di focalizzarsi su una fase cruciale della carriera dell’artista, parallelamente impegnato nei “proclami” astrattisti, ma concentrato, nel caso dell’ambiente pubblico destinato a distratti spettatori, su una rappresentazione ancora realistica.

Giorgio Levi

Giorgio Levi, triestino di nascita e pisano di adozione, è stato professore ordinario di Informatica fino al 2012: uno dei fondatori della prestigiosa scuola pisana, ricercatore noto a livello internazionale, insignito dell’ordine del Cherubino. Da anni collezionista di ceramica italiana del primo novecento, si è trasformato in studioso, dedicandosi alla riscoperta e valorizzazione di ceramisti, manifatture e distretti ceramici dimenticati o mai studiati in modo scientifico. Ha pubblicato 7 libri e curato 2 mostre.

The twentieth century ceramics offers unexpected discoveries through the study of unpublished works as in the case of a little-known work such as the funeral monument to Luisa Spagnoli performed by the Faentine artist Pietro Melandri in 1937. Luisa Spagnoli was a visionary woman of the Italian twentieth century, creator of the Perugina kiss and of the wool of Angora. Melandri expressed all his artistic ability to testify with ceramics the innovative work of this great woman. Here we present the complex ceramic decorative for the Cappella Spagnoli of Perugia, with the description of the nine large ceramic panels made by the artist and the critical comparison with the other works of the same period, such as the great announcing angel that earned him the Faenza Prize in 1939.

Giorgio Levi

Giorgio Levi, triestino di nascita e pisano di adozione, è stato professore ordinario di Informatica fino al 2012: uno dei fondatori della prestigiosa scuola pisana, ricercatore noto a livello internazionale, insignito dell’ordine del Cherubino. Da anni collezionista di ceramica italiana del primo novecento, si è trasformato in studioso, dedicandosi alla riscoperta e valorizzazione di ceramisti, manifatture e distretti ceramici dimenticati o mai studiati in modo scientifico. Ha pubblicato 7 libri e curato 2 mostre.

In the italian applied arts area, the virtuoso reproduction of artifacts from the past, especially with regard to fabrics, carpets, embroidery, lace, was considered an added value. In the 1920s and 1930s we witnessed a courageous project of innovation. The major national exhibitions ask participants to move away from the old and the traditional, to explore new graphic possibilities. The attempt, which remains elitist in the production of lace, nevertheless leaves numerous valid creative testimonies. Among the companies that invest in the production of modern embroidery and lace, the Jesurum company, backed by fifty years of experience in the area, is noteworthy because it entrusts young talented decorators with the task of trying to revolutionize their patterns. We highlight the works of Giulio Rosso, who is not afraid to alternate fairy tale details with symbolic representations, with essential scenes. They are laces suitable for furnishing, not very adaptable to the sinuous and light clothing of those decades of luxury display, and therefore destined for commercial failure.

Giorgio Levi

Giorgio Levi, triestino di nascita e pisano di adozione, è stato professore ordinario di Informatica fino al 2012: uno dei fondatori della prestigiosa scuola pisana, ricercatore noto a livello internazionale, insignito dell’ordine del Cherubino. Da anni collezionista di ceramica italiana del primo novecento, si è trasformato in studioso, dedicandosi alla riscoperta e valorizzazione di ceramisti, manifatture e distretti ceramici dimenticati o mai studiati in modo scientifico. Ha pubblicato 7 libri e curato 2 mostre.

The paper considers the production of Giacomo Vivante, a venetian jewish ceramist, active with a ceramic factory located in Murano, from 1902 to 1911. The paper publishes several previously unpublished ceramics and discusses the Vivante production inside the venetian artistic movements of the early XX-th century. Vivante has produced over a very short time span and has exposed almost only in regional exhibitions. However he has to be considered one of the most important art nouveau italian artists.

Giorgio Levi

Giorgio Levi, triestino di nascita e pisano di adozione, è stato professore ordinario di Informatica fino al 2012: uno dei fondatori della prestigiosa scuola pisana, ricercatore noto a livello internazionale, insignito dell’ordine del Cherubino. Da anni collezionista di ceramica italiana del primo novecento, si è trasformato in studioso, dedicandosi alla riscoperta e valorizzazione di ceramisti, manifatture e distretti ceramici dimenticati o mai studiati in modo scientifico. Ha pubblicato 7 libri e curato 2 mostre.

The fashion of furniture in "Sardinian style" has represented at European level one of the most interesting examples of the regionalist trend of art deco. The finding of the furnishings of an entire (or complete) room, made in Cagliari in the second half of the 1920s, draws attention to this season and to a forgotten protagonist: Gaetano Ciuffo. His multi-faceted figure as a socialist militant, graphic artist, art critic, illustrator, designer, carver, sculptor, has so far been obscured by that of the much better-known twin brother Pietro, a friend of Gramsci and caricaturist of "L'Ordine Nuovo".
In the story of the Sardinian "rustic déco", instead, Gaetano Ciuffo had a central and decisive role.
His pathway covered the entire time frame of that experience, from his premises during the first ten years of the 20th century the explosion in the Twenties, until the beginning of the decline with the start of the following decade. Wane that the artist was able to grasp earlier than others.

Giorgio Levi

Giorgio Levi, triestino di nascita e pisano di adozione, è stato professore ordinario di Informatica fino al 2012: uno dei fondatori della prestigiosa scuola pisana, ricercatore noto a livello internazionale, insignito dell’ordine del Cherubino. Da anni collezionista di ceramica italiana del primo novecento, si è trasformato in studioso, dedicandosi alla riscoperta e valorizzazione di ceramisti, manifatture e distretti ceramici dimenticati o mai studiati in modo scientifico. Ha pubblicato 7 libri e curato 2 mostre.

Viennese culture in the early decades of the twentieth century is founded on equality and integration of architecture and decorative and fine arts. The School of Arts and Crafts plays a fundamental role in artistic education and many artists of the secession movement contribute, as teachers, to the continuous updating of education according to the modern aesthetic trends. Working in close contact with the School, the Wiener Werkstätte
links the intellectual act of design with the manual act of physical creation in order to product objects of high artistic quality. In this context ceramics occupy a key position and great artists, such as Koloman Moser, Michael Powolny and Vally Wieselthier, spend a great deal of their creative energies in ceramics design, developing different styles having common roots in the Viennese secession movement.

Giorgio Levi

Giorgio Levi, triestino di nascita e pisano di adozione, è stato professore ordinario di Informatica fino al 2012: uno dei fondatori della prestigiosa scuola pisana, ricercatore noto a livello internazionale, insignito dell’ordine del Cherubino. Da anni collezionista di ceramica italiana del primo novecento, si è trasformato in studioso, dedicandosi alla riscoperta e valorizzazione di ceramisti, manifatture e distretti ceramici dimenticati o mai studiati in modo scientifico. Ha pubblicato 7 libri e curato 2 mostre.