Brutalist Ceramic Vase - Marcello Fantoni

Very large, organic bulbous shape ceramic vase by Gerhard Liebenthron, made in Bremen, Germany in 1964. This colour palette is quite typical of Liebenthron's work, rarely straying fr...

Ceramic vase by Gilbert Valentin, Vallauris made in Les Archanges, France, in the 1950s. Les Archanges was the name of the workshop created by Gilbert Valentin and his wife Lilette i...

Monumental ceramic vase by Marcello Fantoni signed and numbered for Raymor ,tall and fluted at crème top with black glaze dripping down over a ...

Marcello Fantoni (1915-2011) sculptor, ceramicist, metalworker, multi-media artist and designer Born in Florence in 1915, Marcello Fantoni began studying ceramic art at age 12 at the Art Institute of Florence with ceramicist Carlo Guerrini, artistic director of the famed Cantagalli Factory. He continued years of training in ceramics and the arts, including sculpture with Libero Andreotti and Bruno Innocenti, and figurative art with Gianni Vagnetti, graduating as a maestro of art in 1934. After a stint as art director for a ceramics factory in Perugia, in 1936 he opened the Fantoni Ceramic Studio in Florence. Here he produced ceramic series as well as unique pieces, sculptures and furnishings. In 1937 Fantoni’s pieces were exhibited in the Florence National Arts and Crafts Exhibit where their unique combination of rustic forms decorated with African and marine motifs and painted figures garnered considerable acclaim. By the start of World War II Fantoni’s melding of ancient Italian pottery techniques with decidedly Modernist elements had won him artistic and commercial success both in Italy and abroad. Having participated in the resistance, after the War Fantoni worked for the 500-year old Maiolica factory in Deruta, Umbria, renowned for its signature tin-glazed pottery. In the 1950s he refocused on his Florence studio, dedicating himself to larger sculptural pieces...