Gino Cenedese Biography
Gino Cenedese (1907-1973), great glass artist, learned the trade from various master glassmakers, first of all the great Giacomo Cappellin. In 1946 Cenedese, together with Gino Fort, Pietro Scaramal, Angelo Tosi and Edgardo Valmarana (among the most qualified and gifted artists of the period), founded Gino Cenedese Sr.l., a company which on the one hand continues the ancient tradition of glass artistic Murano glassware (blown glasses, vases, plates, stands and chandeliers), on the other hand it welcomes the suggestions of contemporary art, in a continuous search for new techniques and effects. The structure of the company will change several times over the years, always including artists of great excellence: master glassmakers such as Alfredo Barbini and Ermanno Nason, artistic directors such as Giulio Radi and Antonio Da Ros, designers such as Riccardo Licata, Napoleone Martinuzzi, Fulvio Bianconi, Luigi Cross Shoe. In 1952 the company also began a two-year collaboration with the Centro Studio Pittori nell'Arte del Vetro di Murano (Fucina degli Angeli), creating objects designed by Marc Chagall (1954), Georges Braque and other artists. Furthermore, there are many innovative and original creations from the glassworks: the Aquariums (designed by Licata), large blocks of colorless glass containing polychrome paste elements, abstract or figurative, produced since 1952, and which remained for many years among the most typical pieces of Cenedese ; the female figures in solid glass, the decorative panels in bas-relief and the large chandeliers by Napoleone Martinuzzi (1953-1958); the famous submerged glass vases (very thick vases or very stylized figures), a production renewed in the 50s and 60s by the experimentalism of Antonio Da Ros, who created new chromatic effects, and whose Contrappunti (submerged glass vases in various color tones ) collect the prize for the glass art section at the 1960 Biennale; finally the unique sculptures, inspired by the changing colors of the Venetian lagoon, thanks to the collaboration with the American artist Harold Stevenson (1968-1969). The company still works today with the techniques and art of a tradition handed down from generation to generation, creating unique and timeless pieces.
