As part of the "Italian Glassmaking" session organised by PIASA on Wednesday 12 March 2020, a selection of some of the most representative pieces of this technique will be offered for sale.
At the end of a training course in drawing and metalwork techniques at the Pietro Selvatico School of Art in Padua, Paolo de Poli begins oil painting courses at the Trentini workshop in Verona. His first works are portraits, landscapes or still lifes such as the one he presented at the XV Venice Biennale in 1926. It was not until the early 1930s that the artist became interested in the ancient techniques of enamel on metal. It was then that he collaborated with the designer Gio Ponti. Together they made furniture and decorative panels.
"If there is an Italian art of enamelling, we owe it to De Poli, to the path he followed
and followed faithfully, to the example of his orthodox technique,
to the admiration and esteem he earned. For this too we must be grateful to him. »
Gio Ponti, 1958
Gradually increasing the typology of the pieces he makes, Paolo de Poli will go as far as making crockery, notably for liners, public buildings but also for collectors' houses both in Italy and abroad. Truly transdisciplinary, his approach converges with architecture (Guglielmo Ulrich, Melchiorre Bega) and painting (Gino Severini, Roberto Aloi) with which he will never cease to dialogue.
The man who embodied the Italian style in major international exhibitions (Brussels in 1935, Paris in 1937, New York in 1939) is today present in the most important collections of decorative arts and design.
Among the 18 pieces offered for sale during this session, several bear witness with great fidelity to the technical virtuosity of this outstanding craftsman. Discreetly zoomorphic, this vase, made in the early 1950s, is made of enamelled copper. Estimated at 1,500 and 2,000 euros, it shows the astonishing chromatic diversity of this technique.
Gio Ponti (1891-1979) & Paolo de Poli (1905-1996)
Ensemble de deux sculptures
Cuivre émaillé
Date de création: années 1950
Signées 'De Poli'
H27×L40×P6cm
H25×L42×P6cm
Estimation : 2000 / 3000 €
Made with Gio Ponti, this set of two enamelled copper sculptures is estimated at between 2,000 and 3,000 euros.
Paolo de Poli (1905-1996)
Vase
Enameled copper
Signed 'De Poli'
Creation date: circa 1950
H39×L22×D14cm
Estimation : 1500 / 2000 €
The three vases presented here were made in the mid-1960s.
Paolo de Poli (1905-1996)
Set of three vases
Enameled copper
Signed 'De Poli'
Creation date: circa 1960
H32×Ø11 cm
H29×Ø8,5cm
H28,5×Ø8,5cm
Estimation : 2000 / 3000 €
