Jean Arp
Born in Strasbourg in 1887, he died in Locarno in 1966 (some biographies incorrectly indicate Bale or Meudon). Painter, sculptor and poet, he discovered Modern Art during a stay in Paris. He associated with the greatest artists of the 20th century but he keeped to his own personal style.In 1954...
Gae Aulenti
Pseudonym of Gaetana Emilia Aulenti (Palazzolo dello Stella, 4 December 1927 - Milan, 31 October 2012)She graduated in Architecture at the Milan Polytechnic in 1953. From 1955 to 1963 she was editor of Casabella magazine. She worked mainly in the field of architecture and was responsible for important museum restorations...
Sergio Asti
Born in Milan in 1926. Graduated in architecture, he became a partner in the A.D.I. (Industrial Design Studio) and worked for Knoll international, Ferruzzi e Bozzi in Milan and Rochas in Paris. During his career he has worked for several Murano firms: with Venini & Co . From 1968 to...
Alfredo Barbini
At the end of the Second World War, after having spent his youth at the school of the great Born in 1912, he starts working in glass-making area while still very young and after a brief apprenticeship, first at the S.A.I.A.R. Ferro Toso firm and later at the Anonima Vetrerie...
Mario Badioli
Born in Murano in 1940. At the age of 14 he was apprenticed to master glass blower Ermanno Nason , at the firm Mazzega I.V.M. From 1958 to 1960 he attended the Institute of Fine Arts in Venice, where he studied under Professor Angelo Fuga . In the same period...
Guido Maria Balsamo Stella
Born in Turin in 1882, died in Asolo (Treviso) in 1941.In 1918 He became designer for the firm Artisti Barovier . In 1922, in Colle Val d'Elsa (Siena), together with Franz Pelzel , he opened an artistic glassware laboratory that in 1925 got moved to Venice.In 1926 he became the...
Vetreria Aureliano Toso
The firm was founded in 1938 by Aureliano Toso, who right from the start was able to cooperate with the painter Dino Martens, whose qualities as a designer he had already appreciated. The first important experiments (just at research level) appeared at the XXIII Venice Biennale in 1942 with a...
Giuliano Ballarin
Master Giuliano Ballarin was born in Murano on March 15, 1942 in a family whose tradition of glassmaking has been handed down from generation to generation since 1400. He approaches the world of glass at a very young age, revealing a strong learning ability supported by acute intelligence and lively...
Flavio Barbini
Son of Alfredo Barbini , he was born in Murano in 1948. He studied at the Carmini State Institute of Art in Venice. In 1968 he joined his father's firm, and he still works there as a designer
Guglielmo Barbini
Born in Murano on 13 May 1898 to Vincenzo Barbini and Anna Fuga, he descends from an ancient family of Murano glassmakers who, for more than five centuries, worked in the various sectors of the island's glass production, such as in the production of chandeliers, pearls and various objects, specializing, in...
Barovier & Toso
The glasswork, founded in 1878, went through various circumstances before taking the current name of Barovier & Toso in 1942.Owned by the Barovier family, together with more or less long-standing partners, under the leadership of Benvenuto and Giuseppe Barovier, it first took the name of Artisti Barovier producing glass type blown...
Dedoli Barovier
Master glassblower at the Venini & C. firm. In 1928 he exhibited some of his objects at the XVI Venice Biennale.
Angelo Barovier (1927)
Ercole's son, he was born in Venice in 1927. He studied laws at the Universities of Padua and Ferrara (Italy). In 1947 he started working at Barovier & Toso's and in 1951 he became a designer for the company; in 1975 he reached the director position, and later he became...
Diego Barovier
As a Master glassblower he worked for Andrea Rioda & Co . and for the Cappellin Venini & C. Firms. While working for this last firm, he exhibited his executions at the XIV Venice Biennale (1924).
Giuseppe Barovier
Born in Murano in 1853 where he died in 1942. His career started with Antonio Salviati , his friend during the studying period. Still very young, he joined the C.V.M. Compagnia Venezia Murano , and when Antonio left, Giuseppe folowed him together with his uncle and his brothers, becoming owner...
Ercole Barovier
Son of Benvenuto, he was born in Murano in 1889 where he died in 1974. In 1919 he joined as a partner the Vetreria Artistica Barovier & Co., and in 1926 he gained the direction position together with his brother Nicolò. In 1936 he joined up with the Decio and Artemio...
Jacopo Barovier
Ercole's son, he was born in Venice in 1950. He studied economics and business, joined Barovier & Toso's to take care of administration and became its general manager.
Nicolò Barovier
Born in Murano in 1895, where he died in 1947. The son of Benvenuto Barovier , Nicolò Barovier was both an entrepreneur and a designer. He and his brother, Ercole Barovier , joined the Vetreria Artistica Barovier & C. in 1919 as partners and glass designers. After 1926, they both...
Howard Ben Tré
Howard Ben Tré is internationally recognized for his unique sculptures and large-scale works of art for public and private spaces. Ben Tré is a pioneer in the use of cast glass as a sculptural medium and his work is included in more than 85 museum and public collections worldwide, among...
Umberto Bellotto
Born in Venice in 1882 where he died in 1940. He inherited his father's blacksmith's workshop and in 1910, together with the architect Cesare Laurenti, he was awared the patent for the connubio di ferro e vetro . He exhibited at the Venice Biennale of in 1914 and 1920. The...
Ward Bennet
USA - November 17, 1917 – August 13, 2003He was an American designer, artist and sculptor.The New York Times described his work as defining "an era".He created furniture, flatware, dresses, jewelry and homes. He worked for Sasaki, Japan, Chase, David Rockefeller, Gianni Agnelli, Tiffany & Co., and Jann Wenner.In the...
Benvenuto Barovier
Born in Murano in 1855 and died in Vallada Agordina (Italy, Bl) in 1932. He became a Master at Salviati & Co. In 1873 he has been among the founders of the F.lli Barovier company in 1883. He worked as a designer for the London World Fair glassworks from 1891...
Aldo Bergamini
Aldo Bergamini was born in Bottrighe (Rovigo) on May 14, 1903 and died in Venice on February 11, 1981. Self-taught, he frequently exhibited his paintings up to 1927. Although he had worked as a freelance for several Murano furnaces such as A.V.E.M. in 1954, V.A.M.S.A. in 1956 and I.V.R. Mazzega...
Eugene Berman
Born in St. Petersburg Nov 4th 1899. Studied at the Ranson Academy in Paris with Maurice Denis and Edouard Vuillard from 1919 to 1925. He moved to the U.S. in 1940 and took up U.S. citizenship to become decorator of the Opera Ballet. He has been living in Rome since...
Arturo Biasutto (Boboli)
Known as Boboli. Still very young, he began working at the Cappellin Venini & C. company where he made wonderful creations both of the Bianconi figurines and the murrine vases of Paolo Venini , with whom he collaborated until the early 1970s.He also collaborated with the Swedish ceramist Tyra Lundgren, whom...
Pietro Bigaglia
Born in 1786, dead in 1876. A great glassware researcher and technician, he gave new life to venetian blown glass in the nineteenth century. He was the first man who made paperweights with the inclusion of coloured glass, millefiori, long stretches, cannette, etc. He improved the tecnique of coloured filigrana...
Walter Bodmer
Born in 1903 in Bale where he studied at the Ecole des Art et Metiers. He first moved to Paris and later, for a few years, to Spain where he joined the Allianz. He exhibited in Germany and Switzerland from 1952 to 1960.He participated in the 1956 Venice Biennale and...
Giuseppe Borrella Toso
Joint owner of the firm Pauly & Co. Taken over with C.V.M.'s in 1919 by the Societa' Anonima Sanitaria of Milan (Italy), both sold in 1920. From that time the two firms go together in the name and in the destiny.
Aldo Bon
Known as Polo. Born in Murano in 1906 where he died in 1988. Master glassblower at Aureliano Toso's in cooperation with Dino Martens from 1939 to 1955.Together with Adriano Quarisa in 1960 he established the Vetreria Artigiana Aldo Bon, also in the same period he worked for Fucina degli Angeli.He...
Georges Braque
Born in Argenteuil in 1882, he died in Paris in 1963. Impressionist, fauviste, cubist, he made friend with Picasso . He introduced into painting new techniques tending to highlight the artist's complete freedom of action. His works play a central role in the history of contemporary art, as he opened...
Tommaso Buzzi
Born in Sondrio (Italy) in 1900, he died in Rapallo in 1981. After getting an architecture degree at the Politecnico di in 1923, he worked with Gio Ponti , Pietro Chiesa , Giovanni Martelli and Paolo Venini ; together with them he established "Il labirinto", a movement to promote modern...
Guido Cadorin
Born in Venice in 1892 where he died in 1975. He presented his paintings successfully at the 1911 International exhibits in Rome, as a "Liberty Style" painter. In 1926 and in 1929 he exhibited at the Novecento Italiano shows. He made fresco decoration for the Ambasciatori Hotel in Rome and...
Corrado Cagli
Born in Ancona (Italy) in 1910, he died in Rome in 1976. He studied at the Rome Academy and was attracted to fresco techniques. Together with Capogrossi, Cavalli and Melli he started the "Scuola Romana". In 1933 and in 1936 he exhibited at the Triennale di Milano. His manner of...
Alexander Calder
Born in Philadelphia in 1898, he died in New York in 1976. After getting his degree in engineering he attended courses on design. He went to Paris in 1926, where he exhibited his first sculptures made of metal wire to create clever animations. In 928 he got in touch with...
Mario Carraro
Born in Mestre (near Venice) in 1896 and died in Venice in 1978. Landscape painter active in the 30s, he is one of the founding partners of Centro Studi Pittori Arte del Vetro, later Fucina degli Angeli; for Fucina degli Angeli he designed some objects at the beginning of the...
Giacomo Cappellin
Born in Venice on 29 May 1887 from Antonio and Giacomina Trevisan, he owes a well-deserved fame to the experience of a glass entrepreneur in Murano. It was a short but intense experience not only for the high level of production of his firm, but also for the stimulating function...
Mirko Casaril
Born in Venice in 1931 where he died in 1993. Painter, decorator and designer; in 1953 he got his diploma in decoration at the Venice Institute of Art where he taught from 1961 on. During his artistic career he cooperated (around the 60s) with Andolfato, Barovier & Toso's and Galliano...
Gino Cenedese
Born in Murano in 1907, where he died in 1973. He started his career in the glass factory MVM Cappellin & Co. In 1946 he opened his own furnaces where he had some of the best and most famous master glassblowers and painters. His son Amelio is still the firm's...
Afro Celotto
Afro Celotto was born in Venice on August 24 1963. He started working with glass when he was only 14 years old, apprenticing with the great master Lino Tagliapietra. During his first 12 years as servente to Lino, Afro had the opportunity to learn from one of the greatest living...
Pietro Jr. Chiesa
Born in Milan (Italy) in 1892 where he died in 1948. Famous glassware designer, he joined Fontana Ars' in 1933 as a partner. He worked for S.A.L.I.R. 's, was a member of "Il Labirinto" and promoted modrrn decorative arts. He exhibited his creations at several Biennale editions.
Marc Chagall
Born in Vitebsk in 1887 he died in Saint-Paul-de-Vence in 1985. He studied in St. Petersburgh with Léon Bakst, who introduced him to the Impressionists. He went to Paris in 1910 and joined the "Historical Avant - Garde". Subjected to racial persecution, many of his works went destroyed. The stained...
Giuseppe Chiacigh
Born in Vladikavkaz (Caucasus) on December 28, 1895 from Italian citizens who owned a business in Russia. He died in Trieste in 1967 He was a painter and architect. After completing the Liceo Scientifico in 1913, he attended the Kazan Fine Arts Institute until 1915, where he studied and graduated...
Dale Chihuly
Born in Tacoma in 1941, graduated in 1965 at Washington University in Interior Design. He was awarded a student's grant at Fullbright Fellowship in 1968 and moved to Murano. At Venini & Co. He went deeply into glassmaking tecniques. We went back to U.S.A. in 1970, where he was awarded...
Galileo Chini
Born in Florence in 1873, where he died in 1956. In 1899 together with some friends he established "L'arte della ceramica" to give a new impulse to Italian Maiolica. For a time he worked at the Giunti Bellavista Factory, and later started up on his own. The products of his...
Romano Chirivi
Born in Bologna in 1931. Graduated in architecture in Venice, he taught at University's Institute of architecture from 1958. He cooperated from 1960 to 1967 with the Higher Course of Industrial Design and from 1971 to 1974 with the International University of Art. From 1960 to 1968 he worked for...
Corrado Martens
Known as Dino. Born in Venice in 1894, he died there in 1970. See Dino Martens
Jean Cocteau
Born in Maison Lafitte in 1889, he died in 1963 at Milly-la-Fôret. Writer, poet and graphic artist, very well known as an illustrator of books, he worked as an interior designer, and since 1950 he has been dedicated to the art of ceramics. In 1954 on his advise the Centro...
Egidio Costantini
Born in Brindisi in 1912. In 1950 he established the Centro Studi Pittori Arte del Vetro , later Fucina Degli Angeli . Peggy Guggenheim sponsored his first glassware exhibition in 1953.At the same time Costantini created object designed by other, and his own personal objects, too. Some of the most...
Mario Coletti
Known as Farai. He worked forVenini & Co. From the 30s up to the death of Paolo Venini. For a short period he worked for Rosenthal's. He executed the first duck in vitreous paste on the design of Tony Zuccheri.
Mario D'Alpaos
Son of Giuseppe, he worked as a designer and engraver at S.A.L.I.R .'s, where he became director in 1976.
Giuseppe D'Alpaos
Engraver and decorator. After his experiwnce in the grinding department of Vetreria Franchetti, he established the S.A.L.I.R . firm together with other partners. He executed his items at the premises of other glass facories such as the workshop of Franz Pelzel , who became their partner in 1923. In 1933...
Antonio Da Ros
Born in Venice in 1936. Studied at the Carmini State Institute of Art and later taught architecture. After having worked for a brief period as a designer in ceramics, he joined Cenedese's in 1958 as art director; an appointment he has been holding to this day. A typical feature of...
Serena Dal Maschio
Born in Venice in 1920, she died there in 1974. She studied at the Carmini State Institute of Art and subsequently at the Academy of Fine Arts. She worked with her husband Romualdo Scarpa and starting from 1951 she cooperated as a designer at S.A.L.I.R. picture by https://www.cambiaste.com/
Ludovico Diaz de Santillana
Born in Rome in 1931, died in 1989 in Terranova Bracciolini. After having graduated in architecture in Venice, he taught at the university. He married Anna Venini, Paolo Venini 's daughter, and became general manager of Venini & C. after the death of the holder, and until 1985 when with...
Mario Deluigi
Born in Treviso in 1901, he died in Dolo in 1978. Famous painter, he has taught at the Venice Institute of Art. He has met Carlo Scarpa and worked with him in the design mosaic works. In 1936 under the pseudonym "Guido Bin" he started working as a designer for...
Luciano Dall'Acqua
Venetian painter who for 25 years has been exhibiting at shows together with national and international exhibitions. From 1966 he coopereated with Fucian degli Angeli. In 1978 he became a partner of "Gruppo Az". In mAy 1981 he was appointed by th4e Venice Municipal Culture and Public Education Department to...
Vittorio Donà
Born in Murano in 1903 where he died in 1949. After a diploma at the Venice Academy and some work abroad, he gave life to S.I.V.A.M. company together with other partners; due to his family relationship with the holders, he became a designer at S.A.I.A.R. Ferro Toso's.
Gianni Dova
Born in Rome in 1925, he died in Pisa in 1991. After having studied at Brera, he became one of the chiefplayers of the Avant-Garde movement in Milan in the mid 50s due to "Movimento Nucleare" and "Art Autre". He has worked for Fucina degli Angeli as a designer, too.
Max Ernst
Born in Bruehl in 1891, he died in Paris in 1976. He attended by the university of Bonn the faculty of philosophy, the courses of psychiatry and art history. In 1921 he participated in the exhibition organised by Breton in Paris, where he had moved, and joined the "Surrealism". Then...
Claire Falkenstein
Born in 1909 in Coosbay. She studied at the University of California. In 1942 she was known as a successful sculptor. She lived and worked in Paris from 1950 to 1959, back in U.S.A. she taught at various unversities. In 1971 she started cooperating with Salviati & Co. for about...
Giorgio Ferro
Son of Galliano, he was born in Murano in 1931. He studied at the Carmini State Institute of Art in Venice. From 1951 to 1955 he worked at A.V.E.M. 's as a designer, and was concerned mainly with design projection especially after the death of Giulio Radi . In 1955...
Antonio Ferro
The founder of an important family of master glassblowers, he established the new A.V.E.M. furnace in 1932.
Egidio Ferro
Son of Antonio, born in Murano in 1889 and died there in 1968. He worked for the C.V.M. and later, during the 20s. In 1932 together with other partners he establised A.V.E.M., where he went on producing his objects. In 1955 he left the glassworks to carry on his own...
Ottone Ferro
Son of Antonio and master glassblower, he has been one of the A.V.E.M.'s founding partners. At the XXV Venice Biennale, in 1950, he presented bowls and vases having new chromatic effects obtained through special reactions on metal.
Luciano Ferro
Son of Egidio, he was born in Murano in 1925 and died there in 1972. During the 60s he worked as a master glassblower and occasionally as a designer for A.V.E.M. ins close partnership with Anzolo Fuga and with Fucina degli Angeli. The A.V.E.M. firm exhibited his objects at the...
Raffaele Ferro
Master glassblower at the MVM Cappellin & Co. firm. He exhibited his creations in 1927 at the III International Biennale of Figurative Arts in Monza.
Piero Fornasetti
Born in Milan in 1913 where he died in 1988. After having studied at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts and at the Higher School of Applied Art, he joined the artists of the "Gruppo Novecento". In 1940 he presented his works at the Triennale in Milan and designed a...
Lucio Fontana
Born in Rosario de Santa Fe' (Argentina) in 1899, he died in 1968 in Comabbio (Varese, Italy).He atttended the Brera Academy in Milan, during the 30s he got in touch with lombardic abstract artists and with the international "Abstract - Creation" movement.Lucio started as a ceramic artist in Albisola (Savona,...
Anzolo Fuga
Born in Murano in 1915, he studied at the Carmini State Institute of Art in Venice with Guido Balsamo Stella . In 1939 he graduated in graphic arts, design and artistic stained glass. Together with his brother he opened a boutique in 1947 specialised in the decoration of blown glass...
Mario Gambaro
Born in Murano in 1941 and he has always lived and worked on the island. For the paste five generations, there has always been at least one important maestro in his family. He started his apprenticeship when he was only 13 years old, guided by Alfredo Barbini . Was 20...
Luciano Gaspari
Born in Venice in 1913. He studied at the Fine Arts Academy of Venice and Bologna, he was a pupil of Virgilio Guidi and Giorgio Morandi. He participated in a number of Biennales.Luciano Gaspari is a painter who enters into symbiosis with glass production, studies the collections, scientifically verifies the...
Émile Gallé
Emile Gallé was a French glassmaker and designer born in Nancy in 1846 and died there in 1904. He was one of the most significant exponents of Art Nouveau. He gained experience in his father’s ceramics and glass factory in Nancy and at Mosan laboratories, combined with a passionate study...
Peggy Guggenheim
Born in New York in 1898, she died in Camposanpiero (Padua) in 1979. In 1938 she founded the Guggenheim Jeune in London. In 1949 she bought Palazzo Venier dei Leoni in Venice, and created the eponymous foundation. Her advisers include one of the century's greated artists, Marcel Duchamp. Due to...
Virgilio Guidi
Born in Rome in 1891, died in Venice in 1984. Pupil to Giulio Aristide Sartorio at Academy of Fine Arts in Venice. He was active in Venice from 1927 to 1935 and later came back to settle during the second world war. In 1939 he got closer to the "Abstractism"...
Franz Pelzel
Born in Huttendorf in 1900, he died in Murano in 1974. He studied at the Fachschule in Haida (Novy Bor, Czech Republic). After 1922 he worked in Florence together with Guido Balsamo Stella and opened a glasswork with him in 1925. He cooperated with S.A.L.I.R.'s after 1929 as designer and...
Renato Guttuso
Born in Bagheria in 1912, died in Rome in 1987. After classical studies in Palermo he moved to Rome in 1931 to exhibit at the I Quadriennale. He was in Milan from 1935 to 1937, in contact with Birolli, Manzù and Joppolo. Political and social commitment had a strong influence...