As part of the sale devoted to Italian glass on Thursday 12 March 2020, PIASA will pay a vibrant tribute to Laura de Santillana, who died in October 2019 at the end of a career that had raised her to the top of the world glass arts pantheon.
The almost thousand-year-old history of Venetian master glassmakers ran in the veins of this Italian designer. Born in 1955 in Venice, Laura de Santillana is the granddaughter of the great glassmaker Paolo Venini and daughter of Ludovico Diaz de Santillana. After a childhood immersed in the culture and craftsmanship of her native country, she decided to move to the United States where she studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York.
It is in Washington, D.C., at the Renwick Gallery, that she presents her work for the first time in 1981. Upon her return to Italy, her work was included in the exhibition "Vetro Murano oggi" at Palazzo Grassi in Venice. Her return was a winner. Critical and commercial success was not long in coming.
Influenced by fashion, especially by traditional Japanese clothing, his work makes great use of the chromatic nuances and luminous effects obtained by the contortion of the material. These pieces can be, in a minimalist perspective, perceived as forms relieved of superfluous weight.
Among the selection on sale at this ambitious auction on Thursday, March 12, 2020, eleven pieces illustrate Laura de Santillana's skilful use of colour. As an example, lot 235, a blown glass plate, imitates with great ease the unfolding of vegetation. Nature, and flowers in particular, are an inexhaustible source of inspiration for her.
Laura de Santillana (1955-2019) Plate Blown glass Venini
Estimation : 1000 / 1500 €
Entitled "Klee", the blown glass vase published by Venini dates from 1980. Estimated at between 800 and 1,200 euros, it testifies to the author's interest in modern painting and the work of Paul Klee. Laura de Santillana has created many different types of objects.
Laura de Santillana (1955-2019) Klee Vase Blown glass Venini
Estimation : 800 / 1200 €
Alongside Cristiano Bianchin and Yoichi Ohira, the artist will be exhibited in 2011 at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.
