Synopsis
Glass was viewed as raw material for experiment and research by the famous Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa, who felt the challenge of this vastly suggestive age-old art. This volume is a catalogue raisonne and the entire index of the over 400 artistic glass pieces executed by the architect between 1927 and 1947 for the Murano glassmaking firms of Giacomo Cappellin and Paolo Venini. The works represent an important part of the early years of his activity: over 300 pieces, often unique prototypes, they show Scarpa's designing inventiveness and decorative types, from the "lattimi" (milk-white opaque glass) to the "a incalmo" (grafted) series, from "Phoenician" decoration to other famous styles such as "tessere" (mosaic-like pieces) and "a bollicine" (tiny bubbles). Essays by Marino Barovier, Tobias Scarpa, Luciano Gemin, Gigi Scarpa, Alain Irvine, Sergio Polano, Marina Barovier and Ferrucio Franzoia retrace Scarpa's singular artistic experience through his creations.
The book also provides an opportunity to compare Scarpa's activity as designer and as architect, combining curiosity, meticulousness and the urge to experiment, whether in creating a small object or in measuring himself with the most demanding architectural project.
