Eliseo Salino Biography
Sculptor and decorator was born in Albisola Superiore on 12 August 1919. After studying in Faenza he began working as a ceramist, as an apprentice molder, at Giuseppe Mazzotti's "MGA" factory in Albisola in 1934. In 1937 he was present at the Agonali dell 'Opera Nazionale Balilla of Savona Subsequently he attended ceramic courses at the Inter University Institute of Faenza where he obtained a scholarship to the Brera Academy. He produces, in collaboration with Torido Mazzotti, works in futurist style, often hand-shaped, caricatured and full of a sense of humor, in majolica and hand-painted terracotta. In the late 1930s he came into contact with Salvatore Fancello and Francesco Messina, who worked at the "MGA" and studied the subject in depth with them. In 1939 Eliseo Salino moved to Tuscany and in 1941 he was awarded at the III° Competition of Faenza with the sculpture "Mucca" and at the IV Triennale of Milan. His activity was interrupted by war events and after the war, in 1947, he returned to Albisola and became artistic director of the "ICA" factory, maintaining this position until 1957. In 1953 he obtained new recognition at the XIth Faenza Competition. In June 1954 he participated, with other Ligurian ceramists, in the collective exhibition held at the Galleria Savonese S. Andrea by Silvio Sabatelli. In 1958 he became co-owner, together with Mario Pastorino and Giovanni Poggi, of the "San Giorgio" ceramic factory with headquarters in Corso Matteotti, in Albissola Marina, in the premises of the former "Manifattura Ceramiche Italia". In 1961 some decorative panels created by Eliseo Salino for the "San Giorgio" were awarded at the Albisola Festival and in 1967 he exhibited some vases at the Florence Crafts Exhibition. In the same year, together with Giovanni Poggi, he exhibited at the S. Andrea art gallery. In 1968 he created a large nativity scene, made up of over 200 pieces, for the Sanctuary of Arenzano. Between the end of the Seventies and the early Eighties he was invited by Bepi Mazzotti to make some ceramics in the laboratories of his factory "Fabbrica Casa Museo Giuseppe Mazzotti 1903" in Albisola Capo. Eliseo Salino died in Albisola in 1999.
