Pancioli on wed 6 nov 02
Wow, Vince!! I can't believe you said this.
"And to be really picky, there is nothing "painterly" about Italian
maiolica. It is fairly rigid and linear."
Best wishes -
- Vince
Have you seen the best of Italian maolica ceramics? The "Death of the
Virgin" plate complete with flowing drapery and wonderful figurative
painting?
I think it rivals the best of Renaissance painting especially when you
remember that they were "painting blind" when it comes to colors. And
the BEST part about these platters is that they haven't faded like their
canvas counterparts.
I agree there were some bad Italian maiolica painters--the one I like
least is Xanto Avelli--a sort of cut and past guy. Awful. But some
maiolica plates are pure heaven, certainly painting, and definitely not
rigid or linear.
(I hesitate to disgree with Vince, ever!)
Diana
The word maiiolica wouldn't have translated precisely from the word
Mallorca. The suffix "ica" sort of means "stuff from" Mallorca.
vince pitelka on wed 6 nov 02
> Have you seen the best of Italian maolica ceramics? The "Death of the
> Virgin" plate complete with flowing drapery and wonderful figurative
> painting?
Diana -
I suppose it has to do with a definition of "painterly." I think of
painterly as referring to an active, energetic brush, with obvious evidence
of the application of media. Linear refers to clean divisions of color. As
compared to Italian Renaissance painting, maiolica artists were limited by
the media to some extent, and it is absolutely incredible what they
accomplished. My comment was not meant to demean Italian maiolica in any
way.
Best wishes -
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Crafts
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
Home - vpitelka@dtccom.net
615/597-5376
Work - wpitelka@tntech.edu
615/597-6801 ext. 111, fax 615/597-6803
http://www.craftcenter.tntech.edu/
Bobbruch1@AOL.COM on thu 7 nov 02
Two years ago, the Gardiner Museum of Ceramics in Toronto had a contemporary
majolica show and had work from over twenty artists from a number of
countries. It was an excellent representation of contemporary majolica and
the works were displayed in the same room as their Italian Renaissance
Collection. One of the speakers (whose name I do recall) was the curator of
the Ashmolean (? SP) Museum in Oxford, England. He showed slides of majolica
pieces which the museum had purchased between 1850 and 1890 and compared them
to paintings in their collection by Italian Renaissance masters which also
were purchased during that period. In many cases, the majolica pieces were
at least as expensive as the paintings, and in some cases, much more so.
Whether that pricing was a question of scarcity or taste or a curatorial
opinion of the quality of the painting is open to question. But I thought it
was interesting to see how another era had viewed/valued a particular branch
of ceramics.
Bob Bruch
<<<<<<<<<<
<<<<<
<<<<<there is nothing "painterly" about Italian maiolica. It is fairly rigid and
linear." - - Vince
<<<<<Virgin" plate complete with flowing drapery and wonderful figurative
painting? I think it rivals the best of Renaissance painting especially when
you remember that they were "painting blind" when it comes to colors. And the
BEST part about these platters is that they haven't faded like their canvas
counterparts. I agree there were some bad Italian maiolica painters--the one
I like least is Xanto Avelli--a sort of cut and past guy. Awful. But some
maiolica plates are pure heaven, certainly painting, and definitely not rigid
or linear.
William Lucius on thu 7 nov 02
Our recent trip to Tuscany included popping into a lot of shops that peddled
Maiolica, as well as some quality time in the Ceramics Museum in Deruta,
undoubtedly the epicenter of Italian Maiolica. According to the museum
exhibits, Maiolica was appears in Italy during the 14th century and flowered
into a bewildering variety of painted types (my favorites are Blue, White on
White, and Compendious). A metallic variant known as Luster appeared in the
15th century (Moorish influence). Modern Italian Maiolica owes its
stylistic elements and formats to these early types, but has developed into
what I would refer to as "Decadent Maiolica". Keep in mind this is an
opinion that reflects my own minimalist leanings. To illustrate, we spent
some amount of time observing people painting patterns with incredibly dense
brushstrokes, as if they were intent on obliterating all negative spaces.
The parallel to exuberent Gothic cathedrals or Victorian gingerbread castles
should be apparent. Why this style developed is probably a result of the
market - that is what people buy. I did not buy any Italian Maiolica
because I do not particularly like the way it looks (also it is often
mold-made rather than thrown). I did buy two stoneware cups from a studio
potter in San Gimignano (Franco Baduducci balduccicermica@tin.it). They are
cone 9 stoneware (a rarity in Italy with all of its earthware) and not a
speck of paint on them. To each their own.
William A. Lucius, Board President
Institute for Archaeological Ceramic Research
845 Hartford Drive
Boulder, CO 80305
iacr@msn.com
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