Franco Garelli Biography
Franco Garelli was born in Diano D'Alba, in the province of Cuneo, on 19 October 1909. Surgeon, painter, sculptor and ceramist, he repeatedly alternates the various activities, excelling in all of them. In the 1930s he participated in the Ligurian futurist group and in the 1940s he created some large terracotta statuary works. In 1932 he made his debut with some terracotta figures at the Piedmontese Exhibition of Goliardic Art and in the same year he participated in the Littorali Anno In 1936 he exhibited his works at the Galleria La Stampa in Turin. From 1941 to 1943 he took part in the Second World War. He was among the first artists to return to Albisola after the war and in 1948 he began an important and fruitful collaboration with the "MGA" factory, owned by the Mazzotti family, which led him to perform, as an independent ceramist, around the second half from the 1950s, some abstract sculptures and slat-graphed and engobe-decorated plates. In 1949 his works were presented at the Galleria del Naviglio in Milan. In these years he moved between Albisola and Vallarius and participated in the exhibitions of the "Cobra" group. In 1951 he was present with some cubist works at the IX Triennale of Milan. In the 1950s he also collaborated with other Albisola factories including the "Ce.As. ", "Pozzo Garitta" and the "Cooperativa Stovigliai". In 1954 one of his abstract sculptures in majolica and engobe terracotta, created in the workshops of the Mazzotti factory, obtained first prize at the XIII National Ceramics Competition in Faenza. In 1956 presents some of his works, sculptures and drawings, at the International Movement for an Imaginary Bauhaus exhibition. Since 1959 Franco Garelli has collaborated in the execution of some important works, intended for export, carried out at Vittoria Mazzotti's "VMA" factory in 1960 wins the Spoleto Prize for sculpture. During the 1960s he was called by the "ILSA" factory in Genoa to design the decorations for wall tiles. During his experience as a ceramist over the years he also collaborated with some factories in Castellamonte and with Victor Cerrato's laboratory in Turin and participated in ceramic exhibitions in Messina, Pesaro, Faenza, Gubbio and Albisola, obtaining prizes and recognition. In the 1960s he taught at the Albertina Academy of Fine Arts in Turin. Garelli died in Turin in 1973 and in the same year an exhibition was dedicated to him in the "Ritratto Oggi" exhibition at Villa Faraggiana.
