Emanuele Luzzati Biography
Emanuele Luzzati was born in Genoa in 1921. After graduating from the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Lausanne, he dedicated himself to painting, decoration, illustration and ceramics. In particular, his passion was that of theatrical sets and costumes, but he also worked on the creation of films and animated drawings such as The Paladins, The Thieving Magpie, Alì Babà, Turandot, Pulcinella and the feature film The Magic Flute in collaboration with Giulio Giannini, which earned him an Oscar nomination.
Luzzati has created more than four hundred sets for prose, opera and dance performances in the main Italian and foreign theatres, including the London Festival Ballet, the Glyndebourne Festival, the Chicago Opera House and the Staatsoper Theater in Vienna. In 1972 he participated in the Venice Biennale in the Experimental Graphics section. In 1975, together with Tonino Conte and Aldo Trionfo, he was one of the founders of the Teatro della Tosse in Genoa.
Luzzati also illustrated numerous books, including in 1988 "The Selected Fairy Tales" by the Brothers Grimm in the out-of-print edition of the Olivetti Company. He was a member of the AGI (Alliance Graphique Internationale) and of the Academy. In 1992 the University of Genoa awarded him an Honorary Degree in Architecture. In 1993 the Union of European Theaters organized the exhibition "Emanuele Luzzati scenographer" at the Center Georges Pompidou in Paris. In 1995 he received the Ubu award for the best Italian theatrical scenography of the year for the scenes of Pinocchio.
In 1996, an anthological exhibition of his work was held at the Palazzo Ducale in Genoa. In 1997 he created the "Magic Flute Park" for children in S. Margherita Ligure and created the nativity scene in Piazza Carlo Felice in Turin. In 2001 in Genoa, in the evocative sixteenth-century location of Porta Siberia, the "Luzzati a Porta Siberia" museum was opened, dedicated to his entire work as a set designer and illustrator. Also in 2001, the city of Prague dedicated two exhibitions to him, one on scenography and one on illustration.
Since 1974, the year of Emanuele Luzzati's first exhibition at the gallery, Il Vicolo has been the main publisher of his silk-screen graphic works. Luzzati was an innovative and versatile artist, who left an indelible mark on theatrical scenography and illustration.
