The epitome of Fausto Melotti’s research in ceramics and the void was to achieve the expression of anti-matter. This is best seen in his aerial figures or objects that engulf the emptiness of a space. This sophisticated rectangular vase has heightened material qualities yet aims to represent a pictorial impression of immateriality, with its aura of lightness and thin, sheet metal-like quality. This is enhanced by the vertical application of polychrome metal oxides melting into and becoming one with the ceramic body, generating a vivid metallic effect that is reminiscent of enamelled copper.
This work offers a fine example of Fausto Melotti’s exploration of the technical limits of the material properties of clay, glazes and firing techniques, in pursuit of poetic and fantastic compositions that far exceed the known material qualities of glazed clay bodies then and now.
Melotti in front of his kiln, Milan, circa 1953.
Credit: Courtesy Fondazione Fausto Melotti, Milan.
It comes as no surprise that Melotti’s great technical virtuosity made his works stand out on important international post-war stages, including exhibitions such as the ‘Handicrafts as a Fine Art in Italy’ (1947/48), the ‘Italy at Work’ exhibition in New York (1950), the IX Triennale in Milan (1951) and a growing number of international private galleries. His works gained attention for their unprecedented artistic value and expressive synthesis of form and surface. The latter, but above all the similarity of his works with metal, especially enamelled copper, puzzled many of his contemporaries, even able potters, artists, and gallerists.
On the occasion of the touring Italian ceramics exhibition, ‘Moderne Italienische Keramik’, organised by the eminent Milanese collector, dealer and gallerist Adrian Totti, which travelled to be displayed in Germany’s principal museums between 1953-54, it was reported that Melotti’s vases stood out for their delicate tones. They were ‘remarkable for their subtlety, so much so that the [noted] German potter Hohlt made a bet with Dr. Totti that they were made of enamelled sheet metal’, only to lose that bet in astonishment when he handled one of the Melotti vases on display in the shape of a meter high tube and realised it was indeed made of glazed ceramic.
By Dr. Lisa Hockemeyer, Art and Design Historian and Associate Professor of Design, Politecnico di Milano
Provenance
Antonio Fornaroli, Milan Thence by descent
Exhibited
'Fausto Melotti: L'Opera in Ceramica', MART Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Rovereto, 30 May-14 September 2003 'Fausto Melotti', MADRE Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Donnaregina, Naples, 16 December 2011-9 April 2012
Literature
Antonella Commellato and Marta Melotti eds., Fausto Melotti: L’Opera in Ceramica, exh. cat., Museo d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Milan, 2003, illustrated p. 289 Germano Celant, Melotti, exh. cat., Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Donnaregina, Naples, Milan, 2011, illustrated p. 173
Catalogue Essay
The present lot is registered in the Fondazione Fausto Melotti, Milan, as code VA 321.
Phillips wishes to thank Rudi Cerri of the Fondazione Fausto Melotti for his assistance in cataloguing the present lot.