CERAMIC

Even as far back as the twelfth century, Faenza was renowned for being a "land of art" and privileged location for the production of pottery.
From an artistic viewpoint, Faenza reached the most significant period of its history during the renaissance. during this period, it developed the series of decorative and technical typologies that was to form the nucleus of what would become the traditional "faience", known throughout the world.
Over the course of the years, these consolidated traditions have enaled Faenza's artisans and artists to establish original relationship with markets, industry and the design sector.
Traditions that remain vital for the Faenza of today.

CERAMIC, HISTORICAL PROFILE

(C. Ravanelli Guidotti)

Ceramic of the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance

Faenza, with its earth rich in modelling clay, and a geographical position which made it the meeting ground for the cultures of the Po Valley and of Tuscany, had already established itself as a leading ceramics center in medieval times. A new necessity arose, The product, the raw clay vessel or biscuit , had to be provided with a white background to enhance its decoration.
During the 12th and 13th centuries, on simple forms generally subordinated to the requirements of household use (pans, bowls, jugs), the city's potters devised, developed and perfected two techniques for covering their products: tin glaze (vitreous white) and engobe (earthy white).
The white-coated surface then was decorated, either with a brush and paints, or with a sharp pointed instrument on the engobe. Subjects were taken from the repertoire of ornamentation in the applied arts of the time (textiles, goldsmithery, miniatures), and mainly consisted in plant motifs (vine shoots, flowers, palmettes), motifs of fauna (fish, fantastic birds), and heraldic motifs.
The last group is extremely important, for in it references often appear to the individuals and families that have left their mark on the city's history. After the medieval period or "archaic" phase, came a perfecting of Faenza ceramics, especially of majolica, both in the whiteness and density of its coat (tin-glaze) and in its chromatic range - and also because new colors were adopted, including an intense yellow and a brillant blue.
Taken as a whole, the Faenza workshop production of the early Renaissance, called the "severe" style for its use of clearly defined and recurrent ornamental motifs, may be divided into two major periods, each including various "families" or smaller decorative groupings.
During the first period, grafted onto motifs from the "archaic" or medieval phase is decoration partially deriving from the Byzantine world, as in the "zaffera blue relief" family, and partially from the arabic culture of the Moorish craftsmen in Spanish workshops, as in the "Italo-Moresque" family.
During the second period, there grew up alongside the Gothic-style motifs of the "floral-gothic" family, ornamentation originating in the Middle and Far East and constituting the decorative families named "peacock feather ocelli", "persian palmette", and "alla porcellana".

Renaissance Ceramics and "Compendiario" Style Ceramics

Starting in the late 15th - early 16th century, Faenza majolica undergoes a change .
The gothic and oriental motifs characteristic, at least in part, of late medieval or " archaic" phase production, and of the early Renaissance, or "severe" slowly abandoned, and the transition to a new, purely Italian decorative language takes place. Tipically Renaissance ornamemtation appears on majolica ceramics , now at the height of technical perfection .
There are four -petaled flowers , the guilloche and egg and dart motifs , rosettes, and above all the human figure , which bit by bit gains importance, although at the beginning of the 16th century its basis is still essentially the indication of an ideal "type": the lady of rank, the page, the musician, the allegorical figure, or the beatiful woman. The greater cultural freedom and the closer relation- ship between majolica craftsmen and painters after the turn of the century led ceramics away from the heraldic and decorative figures to a more personal and deeply felt expression of the human form, and initiated a new style, called "istoriato " for its extraordinary narrative gusto.
Nearly all of the Faenza masters were anonymous - at most they used monograms or the initials of their name to sign the back of their vessels . Their work depicts the great biblical and mythological scenes which their cultivated patrons presented to them to be copied from illustrated books and prints.
Some general stylistic characteristics of the first figurative phase, or "early istoriato " (ca. 1500 - 1525) are : great care in the drawing, a delicate juxtaposition of chromatic tones, and a knowing balance between the formal and decorative elements. When the majolica craftsman of Faenza had achieved greater harmony and narrative ease for the figurative parts of the "istoriato", they went on to new, sophsisticated techinical innovations, among them the bluegrey "berettino" majolicas on which decorative motifs such as grotesques, trophies of war, festoons of leaves and fruit, and quarterings were executed in opaque white on a light or dark blue tin glaze ground .This is the "bello", the "beautiful" or "second istoriato" style, marked by the work of such masters as Baldassarre Manara, Pirotto Paterni and his sons (Cà Pirota), and Virgiliotto Calamelli.
The effects reached by this decorative style between 1550 and 1580 are insuperable: on embossed and moulded forms copied from metal prototypes (silver and pewter ) hightly articulated decoration covers nearly the whole of the object.
This is the triumph of the "fiorito " or flowered style of Faenza majolica . In it, the motifs of the "bello" reappear and are further developed, and above all so are the new "Raphaelesque"decorations developed from the earlier grotesques.
The majolica craftsmen of Faenza had reached a zenith in both figured and unfigured ceramics decoration and coloring when, shortly after the middle of the 16th century, they gave the style of their work a new turn with the production of objects commonly called "Faenza white ware" or "compendiario* style ware".
Knowledge of this style comes down to us through archive documents and objects found and preserved even today. It is characterized by a white, thick coating glaze on the object, whence the common meaning of the term "white-ware style", and unlike the bright polychrome of the first half of the 16th century its color range is limited to a more or less thinned out blue and two tones of yellow (pale and orange). The result of this style is renewed form, greater importance of form, an increasing preciousity of surface, and a delicacy and lightness of touch in ornamentation.
These qualities may have been responsible for the immediate success of the new product and its great marketability until well past the middle of the 17th century. Conventional objects, such as plates, bowls, pitchers, appear beside unusual forms - "crespine", which are ribbed bowls or cups with a scallopped rim and, occasionally, an umbo; or fruit bowls with pierced work and "baccellatura", a molded design of podshaped grooving. There are also eccentric pieces - decorative obelisks, ink-stands designed like a cage, coolers and bottleholders with lion's-paw feet, salt cellars supported by harpies and dolphins - and all these objects, inspired largely by work in silver and bronze, have their surface covered with a glaze which takes on a very warm white tone and whose body and thickness soften the rigid lines of the forms modelled from metal prototypes. But the decoration is simple - small figures, putti, coats of arms, light garlands of leaves and flowers, all characterized by a brief, light composition.
They are just barely sketched in or "abbreviated" - compendiato in Italian, and thus the adoption of the term "compendiario" to describe this style of majolica painting. Among its most important masters were the majolica craftsmen Virgiliotto Calamelli, Leonardo Bettisi (called "Don Pino"), and the Dalle Palle family.
The compendiario style met with such great success that the masters of Faenza were induced to enlarge their markets by seeking new work space in other cities and countries. And so we find signs of their work in Verona, Turin, Genoa, and abroad - in France, Holland , and even in Eastern Europe. The fame of Faenza white ware spread and grew to such a great degree that finally, from the second half of the 16th century on, the name "faïence" - a French term derived from Faenza - was used generically for all such tin-glazed products, just as it is today. *The ceramics scholar, G. Ballardini, took the term "compendiario" from archaeology, where it was used to designate a type of Roman painting (pictura compendiaria) which grew up around the end of the 1st century A.C. Its technique of rapid, essential brush strokes reproduced a particular mode in Hellenistic painting, which preceded it.

Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Ceramics

The panorama of ceramics production in Faenza during the 18th century has, without a doubt, one outstanding phenomenonthe Conti Ferniani Manufacory, whose life began in October 1693 Count Annibale Carlo Ferniani took over the old Cavina - Grossi - Tonducci Manufactory. From that day, and for the following two centuries, this factory set its mark and character on a good part of the ceramics porduced by this city of Romagna.
At the start, factory production continued mainly in the so - called " Faenza white ware " tradition, but towards the middle of the 18th century it opened itsdoors to the middle of the new taste in decoration, inspired on the one hand by European - especially French - fashion, and on the other by exotic elements, as in " chinoi - serie "decoration, whose spread was due in great parat to the massive importation of Chinese and Japanese porcelain by the East India Companies.But the Ferniani Manufactory also played an important part in the history of Faenza ceramics as a technological innovator. There, during the second half of the century, the "petit feu " technique took its place beside traditional work methods , and a new ceramics product, of English origin, was adopted - terraglia , or cream- colored earthenware.
Originally a porcelain technique , the "petit feu "(600°) made it possible to further enrich the range of colors employed at that time, and ceramics painters excelled in it . There were Benini and Ragazzini and, above all, Filippo Comerio of Bergamo whose subjects - beggars, bare landscapes, small figures, done in a brilliant transparent green againist a manganese black outline - engendered the so- called "Comerio" type.
In 1778 terraglia , or cream - colored earthenware , took its place beside traditional majolica . Skillful sculptors - such as Alessandro Tomba, Antonio Trentanove, G. Pani, Giambattista Sangiorgi , Giambattista and Francesco Ballanti, and others - would soon use it to make plstic groups representing mythological subjects in the round, and extremely refined crockery with ornamentation in relief. Towards the end of the century and at the beginning of the next, the various vessels making up a table service were adorned with a new, delicate decoration.
There were vine leaves, festoons, acorns, mainly used on flat plates , vases, tureens - forms whose simplicity and linearity revealed the new neoclassical taste. In the 19th century, both the Ferniani Manufactory and other , minor shop returned to traditional grand feu decoration (920°) while continuing to produce terraglia . The tendency in this return was to retrieve the techniques of the old masters and to reappraise the classical themes of 16th century Faenza majolica , especially " Raphaelesque" decoration. During the second half of the century, around 1870, an actual school of majolica painting was founded under the leaderschip of Achille Farina, a majolica craftsman and painter who had mastered the craft at the Ferniani Manufactory. This school, with its imitation of easel painting techniques, has left us a good many watercolors, scenic views and naturalistc portraits.

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INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM OF CERAMICS

Throughout the world, Faenza is synonymous for ceramics. Five centuries ago, Faenza ware was already a fundamental reference point for European ceramics production and the term "faenza - faience" is used in some regions of Europe as a synonym for majolica.
This is why the Faenza International Ceramics Museum, founded in 1908 by Gaetano Ballardini, has become an important international cultural research and documentation centre for everything connected with ceramics, offering the public an extensive selection of ceramics from all around the world ranging from ancient times (link a 3.3) to the present day. The Museum is currently undergoing a majior transformation process aimed at increasing exhibition space and allowing (as can already be seen in palces) a more rational and comprehensible presentation of the works to the public.
The exhibition starts with pre-Columbian ceramics presented with the support of sophisticated explanatory material. These are followed by classical ceramics from the prehistoric to the Roman period and exhibits from the Far East (China, Japan and Korea) and Middle East.
On the top floor of the old four-sided building, the visitor can see an in-depth presentation of the evolution of Faentine ceramics from the early Middle Ages to the Renaissance ceramics divided into regions. A further section will soon opened illustring later developments in Italian ceramics between the sisth and eighth centuries. In the newly created exhibition area, visitors can also admire a selection of ceramics made by the main European producers.
The museum does not concentrate exclusively on ceramics from the past, but also follows closely wide the sector is producing today. A wide section is therefore dedicated to contemporary ceramics (partly in preparation), taking as its starting point works from the "Premio Faenza" (link a 4.1) competitions held since 1938. This section also includes masterpieces from internationally recognised artists such as Picasso, Matisse, Rouault, Léger, Chagall, Leoncillo, Fontana, Burri, Martini, Melotti, Nespolo, Baj, Arman and Matta. Finally in the new conference hall, the visitor can see a multi-vision presentation on the origins of the Museum.

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THE INTERNATIONAL CERAMICS COMPETITION

The International Competition of Contemporary Art Ceramics, which is now atits 51st edition, was established in 1938 following the trail of centuriesof tradition that faenza has always enjoyed in the ceramics field. it represents, above all, the correct application of fundamental principlessuch as the, the renewal and replenishing of the ceramics in their Artisticand functional aspect and also the fostering of new research, new experience
in the field of the earth elements, of the colors and the baking procedures. This defines the importance of the competition aimed at the development oftraditional ceramics, mainly as a new experience, a new way to come closerto the ceramic element and moulding it.
Ceramics as a form of expression, as a form of art which is certainly not aminor one; ceramics to research a different way of being and becoming. Throughout time, faenza has always felt the necessity of publicising itsartistic products through expose that would bring out the artistic andfunctional quality of its products.
This Is how, during mediaeval times the local expo "Fiera" saw its birth (every spring an fall) a remembrance of such events is still kept by thestreet "Via Della Fiera".
During renaissance times the Fiera was limited to 8/10 days extending over the entire area which is now called "piazza del popolo". In pre-established pavilions the local and foreign products were displayed for the purchase ofa crowd that would flock from romagnia as well as from neighbouring regions. The expo was so implemented until the end of the seventeenth century, as inthe eighteenth century the expo witnessed alternate popularity.
The biggest expo to be ever held in the past was that of the 1908, held alsoto commemorate the birth of the great local scientist EvangelistaTorricelli. This exceptional commercial, farming, industrial and artistictheme expo was held from august till october of that year. Organised onpre-established pavilions with provisional structure the expo was held alongthe "viale della stazione ferroviaria" (railway station street) andcomprised the rooms of what is today the museum of ceramics. No noteworthy fiera or expo was held till 1931, when a civic committee aimedAt the revitalising the fiera dedicated to the faentine artistry wasconstituted. These primary events were called faentine weeks in which industrialproducts, agricultural tools, artisan handcrafts, including those of thearts fields such as ceramics were displayed.
The first sections dedicated to local ceramic artistry appeared, which withthe passing of time, gained in importance thanks also to the participationof ceramists of neighbouring towns. This encouraged the committee of thefaentine week to create a specific section dedicated to the display ofceramics, thus extending the participation to all italian ceramists.
The faentine weeks expo thus became a bi-polar event with the ceramicssection being dedicated a bigger and more distinct independent space fromthat of other products.
1938 saw the begging of the "faenza prize" on a national scale: atheme-based competition with the ornamental pottery as its first theme. The theme-based competition was soon abandoned being a very limiting one. Freedom of subject was left up to the ceramists and the expo was subdividedin two sections: one was dedicated to the participants of the faenza prize (reserved to big size quality ceramics), the other section was dedicated toartisan products which concurred to minor prizes associated to varying genre. A high increase in participants is soon witnessed including that of modestartisans who could thus showcase their products as long as they were samltedor painted with crystal colors. Simple terracotta were excluded. Starting from 1938 the expo was held in the rooms of the present-day museumof ceramics. In those same rooms the international ceramics competition sawincreasing development and success up until 1942, that is up until the lastyear in which it was possible to hold it even in the face of a full scaleworld war.
The competition was re-established in 1946. It was an encouraging edition inas much as a permanent committee and secretariat were established their taskwas the fulltime organisation and implementation of the now traditionalfaentine ceramics happening. Starting from 1960 the competition and theassociated expose were given a new organisation with the constitution of atechnical committee, renewed every two years, and which presidential rolewas held by the mayor.
In 1963 the competition became an international one, from 1989, it is abi-annual event.
After almost 40 years, the predominant and fundamental core of the variousfaentine ceramics happening has remained that of the international ceramicscompetition, an event that if not singular one is certainly the mostqualified world wide.

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List of the "Faenza" prizes from 1938 till present date

elenco dei premi "Faenza" dal 1938 ad oggi

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