Yellow and Green Glass Bottle by Fulvio Bianconi for Venini

Yellow and Green Glass Bottle by Fulvio Bianconi for Venini. Signed on the underside of the base: Bianconi Venini. Italy: circa 1950 Bianconi’s real contribution to the world of art and design, however, finds its inception in 1947 when the Milanese Paulo Venini commissioned a series of perfume bottles from the illustrator, beginning the artist’s career as a freelance glasswork designer (Ricke 22). Unimpeded by the restrictions of the glass artisan’s principles of design and financially independent due to his work as a graphic designer, Bianconi was free to experiment with the formal qualities and potentials of glass as a fluid and organic medium. His earliest freelance work for Venini, which he not only designed but also cut and ground himself in order to become familiar with the medium, engages in a spontaneous aesthetic that intentionally and ironically protests against traditional values of perfect craftsmanship (Ricke 23). Throughout the late 1940’s and 1950’s, Bianconi brought a theatrical and humorous sensibility to his glasswork design that was born both from his personal roots in cartooning and caricature as well as a more general atmosphere of creative experimentation enjoyed by a post-Fascist Italy

height

15.75 in.

condition

Good overall condition

Circa 1950