CARLO SCARPA (1906-1978)
THE COLLECTION OF FRANCESCO AND CHIARA CARRARO, VENICE
CARLO SCARPA (1906-1978)

A CORROSO VASE, MODEL N. 3695, CIRCA 1936

Details
CARLO SCARPA (1906-1978)
A CORROSO VASE, MODEL N. 3695, CIRCA 1936
produced by Venini, lightly iridescent hand-blown glass
13 ¾ in. (35 cm.) high
acid stamp venini murano ITALY
Literature
M. Barovier, Carlo Scarpa. Venini 1932-1947, exhibition catalogue, Venice, Le Stanza de Vetro, Milan, 2012, pp. 205, 218 for this example and a model drawing.

M. Barovier, Carlo Scarpa. Glass of an Architect, exhibition catalogue, Brescia, Palazzo Martinengo, Milan, 1998, pp. 126, 211 for other examples.

Venini, blue catalogue, pl. 49, n. 3695.
Exhibited
Venice, Le Stanze del Vetro, Carlo Scarpa. Venini 1932-1947, August 2012 - January 2013;
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Venetian Glass by Carlo Scarpa: The Venini Company 1932-1947, November 2013 - March 2014.
Further details
The Corroso series of vessels is amongst the most important of the architect’s experiments into transparency of form and texture. During cooling, each vessel was dusted with acid-impregnated sawdust to deliver a softly coarse surface. By selecting pale, dulled colors, together with the textured surface, each vessel conveys an impression of timelessness, as if an artifact exhumed from ancient memory. The expressive, slightly raised trails to the body further provoke a sense of gestural ambiguity, as if the structure is emerging from the mists of timelessness. As such, works from this series capture a uniquely Venetian sensibility, and serve to assert Scarpa’s genius as a master of both poetic form and of technique. Examples of good scale and stylistic purity, such as the present example, must be considered to be extremely scarce.

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