Fulvio Bianconi at Venini

Fulvio Bianconi (Padua, 1915 – Milan, 1996), from the interwar period onwards, was associated with the glassworks of Paolo Venini with which he established a significant working relationship leading to the creation of an extraordinary series of highly coloured Murano glass pieces that encapsulate the enthusiasm of the decade and characterise the taste of the period. This volume revisits this exciting experience of Bianconi’s and illustrates the entire production created for the celebrated Murano furnace. This consists of some five hundred models, including vases and bowls with original forms and exuberant but refined polychrome glass weaves (pezzati, scozzesi, a fasce) (patchwork, Scots, with bands etc.). As well as these, there are amusing animals but also a great number (c. 180) of very lively and ironic glass figurines, often freely inspired by characters of the Commedia dell’arte (Italian popular theatre), such as Arlecchino (Harlequin) and Pulcinella, and others by regional or period costumes etc., testimony to the extraordinary creativity of a versatile and prolific artist.