Promoted by the City and Province of Padova and sponsored by the Soprintendenza al Patrimonio Storico Artistico e Etnoantropologico, the exhibition – like the lavish Allemandi catalogue – has been prepared by Mirella Cisotto Nalon and Annamaria Spiazzi. The exhibition is itinerant and, after Padua, will travel to many other museums in Italy and abroad.
The Gold-Working School of Padua is the only one of its kind in Europe. It was at first a highly original experiment, the result of the work of individuals endowed with creative talent of an unusual kind. Initially these artists focused on an anti-commercial and anti-decorative style, based on purity of forms, carefully balanced materials, perfectly equilibrated proportions, and tenacious experimentation with new techniques and materials.
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ANNAMARIA ZANNELLA, Il giorno e la notte, spilla, oro, ossidazioni, 1998 |
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The new life which sparkled in the School sprang from the mind and technical ability of Mario Pinton, whose accurate craftsmanship led to the threshold of the artistic universe. Already in the early 1950s he conceived jewellery as a work of art, the product of a thought, an idea, a project, of the same importance and on the same level as a painting or a sculpture.
On the occasion of this exhibition, eighteen artists have been invited to represent the Padua School, chosen among the major artistic personalities in the field of contemporary jewellery. Most of them trained at the Istituto Statale d’Arte “P. Selvatico”. Although differing greatly in style and in the presentation of their personal research, they have become internationally recognised and – thanks to their creative genius and advanced experimental techniques – have received important awards world-wide.
GIAMPAOLO BABETTO, anelli, oro bianco, metacrilato, 2001 |
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About one hundred show-cases will display more than 500 works, many of them never seen before, sculptured jewels created from the 1950s until today. This occasion is the latest, and the most important, of a series of exhibitions and events revealing how the great personalities and movements in the world of international jewellery have been working in the avant-garde limelight for more than ten years. So this exhibition is also historical in nature, and follows the creative paths of the three great Paduan maestri: Mario Pinton, Francesco Pavan, Giampaolo Babetto and their students, who have in turn become important names in the artistic world: Giorgio Cecchetto, Lucia Davanzo, Maria Rosa Franzin, Stefano Marchetti, Paolo Marcolongo, Paolo Maurizio, Barbara Paganin, Renzo Pasquale, Diego Piazza, Piergiuliano Reveane, Marco Rigovacca, Graziano Visintin, Alberta Vita, Annamaria Zanella and Alberto Zorzi.
The catalogue contains critical texts and an ample selection of photographs, documenting exhaustively and for the first time the creative paths followed by these artists and setting the phenomenon of their work within the ambit of Italian and European artistic movements. The aim was also to produce a chronological and critical overview of examples of the artists’ works and documentation regarding them, since many pieces are scattered in public and private collections and, in some cases, only entrusted to the memory of the artists themselves.
Further information
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