Le Stanze del Vetro proposes dual exhibitions as Venini turns 100

For Venini glassworks' centenary celebrations, Le Stanze del Vetro will put forth a special project curated by Marino Barovier. Tapio Wirkkala and Toni Zuccheri at Venini are two exhibitions at Le Stanze del Vetro, which will be open to the public on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore from 21 November 2021 to 13 March 2022. The dual exhibitions will showcase over 200 works in glass and will recount the Murano experiences of two great artists present at the Venini furnace both contemporaneous and at different times, particularly in the second half of the 1960s: Tapio Wirkkala and Toni Zuccheri.

Each of them, with their strong personalities, contributed to the character of the production of the glassworks. In those transformational years, the furnace was able on the one hand to present new models, without giving up the use of colour - even though at that time the use of cristallo glass was predominant in Murano – and on the other to respond to the new minimalist requirements from the world of design.

Renowned Finnish designer, Tapio Wirkkala, made his debut at the Venice Biennale in 1966, where the elegant achievements of his work were admired. In a strong position because of his experience in the Nordic world of glass at the Iittala glassworks, Wirkkala was able to combine his own culture with the typical Murano craftsmanship, which fascinated him and offered him new possibilities of expression: gradually gaining confidence with the technique of filigrana and with the ‘discovery’ of colour, he often had recourse to the incalmo technique for the execution of polychrome pieces in transparent glass juxtaposing different shades, mostly in cold tones, but also with lively notes. Examples of this, among others, are the Meduse produced in filigrana sommersa, the Pianissimo vases, the Gondolieri, with minimalist shapes such as the Coreani and the celebrated Bolle, this last series destined for great success. The use of large-scale murrine is characteristic of his research, and he used this in particular for the production of a series of plates. The continued intense activity led to further series born out of experiments with the use of moulds, particularly for new plates, and out of variations on the theme of filigrana often set against opaque glass.

Experimentation with the material of glass and the processes for shaping it are the distinctive marks of Toni Zuccheri who, while still a student of architecture, was invited to the Venini glassworks with the task of designing a bestiary in glass, which was displayed at the Venice Biennale in 1964: ducks in polychrome glass together with unusual animals in glass and bronze (a turkey and guinea fowl), including an original hoopoe with innumerable feathers executed under heat and with sculptural dimensions. This first bestiary was accompanied by several series of vases, evidence of Zuccheri’s investigation of the possibilities of transparency followed in later years (1967-68) by new opaque glass pieces with intense colours and organic lines, inspired by the vegetable world (Tronchi, Ninfee, Scolpiti). From the late 1970s, the glass bestiary was enriched with new models, reconfirming Zuccheri’s interest in this theme and leading to unpredictable variations. Of great interest also is the work the artist carried out during the 1960s on thick glass in realising the celebrated thick stained-glass windows for and with the architect Gio Ponti.

The two exhibitions are accompanied by two monographic catalogues published by Skira - Tapio Wirkkala at Venini and Toni Zuccheri at Venini – both edited by Marino Barovier and Carla Sonego. The two monographs illustrate the work of Wirkkala and Zuccheri at the Venini glassworks, which has been reconstructed following meticulous documentary research based both on the archive material of the glassworks and on that made available by the heirs.

In the video room of Le Stanze del Vetro throughout the entire opening period of the exhibitions, the documentary film on Toni Zuccheri Pezzi Sparsi by Marta Pasqualini, produced by Pentagram Stiftung in 2016, and the documentary on Tapio Wirkkala, Tapio Wirkkala, The man who designed Finland, will be shown.

Opening Hours: 10:00AM – 7:00PM, (Closed on Wednesdays)

Le Stanze Del Vetro, Fondazione Giorgio Cini,

Island Of San Giorgio Maggiore,

Venice