SHORT ugenio Quarti and ARTICLESE Alessandro Mazzucotelli, Irene Two Protean Figures: de Guttry ART NOUVEAU Artists, Artisans, Italy Industrialists, Teachers At the beginning of the 20th century the theo- business and of industry. Companions in ma- rists of Modernism felt that in order to renew ny adventures, the cabinetmaker and the black- the decorative arts there was a fundamental smith frequented artistic circles where they need for collaboration between the artists who were beloved and respected by critics and designed the works of art, the artisans who appreciated by modernist architects (they wor- crafted them, and the industrialists who, ked with Giuseppe Sommaruga and Luigi through mass production, helped disseminate Conconi). They both participated in the lea- them. In fact, two of the leading lights of Art ding national and international exhibition of Nouveau in Italy, the cabinetmaker Eugenio decorative arts. Quarti and the blacksmith Alessandro Mazzu- cotelli, both artisans of working class origins, At the age of 14, Quarti was sent to Paris by his crafted themselves the objects they designed. father, also a cabinetmaker, to learn the trade. Once they achieved success, they were so bur- In 1888, after a brief but intense period spent dened with requests that they had to expand working in Carlo Bugatti's workshop, he ope- their workshop and turn them into a veritable ned the first workshop of his own in Milan: it industrial factory with over 50 employees. took him ten years to free himself of Bugatti's They thus played all three roles, combining influence. Indeed, his furniture in the early manual dexterity with artistic talent, an entre- 1890s betrayed a Moresque style, in ebonised preneurial attitude, and even a vocation for wood with ivory and bone inlays and metal teaching. As bearers of a message of renewal, appliqués, and was exquisitely trimmed: the they were asked to teach in the schools of the perfection of his craft was a constant charac- Società Umanitaria philanthropic institution. teristic of his work. In their case, art proved to be a tool for social elevation. As a youth, Mazzucotelli dreamed of being a painter or a sculptor, but his parents could Born only two years apart - Quarti in 1867 (like not afford to put him through school, and he Héctor Guimard), and Mazzucotelli in 1865 - was forced to work for a living. At the age of 18 they left their respective native towns (Villa he joined the workshop of the Milanese d'Almé in Bergamo province for Quarti, Lodi blacksmith Defendente Oriani and learned all for Mazzucotelli) to find work in Milan, the city the tricks of the trade from him. Six years later, that rises in the words of Boccioni, a capital of in 1891, he took over the workshop. rewanszysta Eugenio Quarti, Study room exhibited at the First International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Art, Turin 1902; pencil drawing of the desk (Bertarelli Civic Prints Collection, Milan) 124 Uncommon Culture On the European Art Nouveau scene, replete with representatives of the enlightened bourgeoisie, Quarti and Mazzucotelli were a unique example of working class pride and social elevation. The intellectual growth and maturation pro- relationship with the painter Giovanni Belt- cess that brought the two artisans to become rami who, roused by modernist doctrines, champions of modernity took place over the abandoned easel painting and founded the course of the 1890s. For Quarti, the turning largest Art Nouveau glassworks factory in point came thanks to his friendship with the Milan. painter and art merchant Vittore Grubicy - who represented the divisionist painters Se- Quarti was awarded a grand-prix at the 1900 gantini, Previati, Morbelli and the cabinet World Fair in Paris, while Mazzucotelli drew maker Carlo Bugatti, who as early as 1888 the attention of critics as the only Italian mas- exhibited his furniture in London. Grubicy ter blacksmith to exhibit modern works. introduced Quarti to artistic circles, encou- raged him to draw, and kept him apprised of The first decade of the 20th century, which in new trends: Japonism, Art Nouveau and Italy coincided with the rise, triumph, and de- nature as a source of inspiration from life, cline of Art Nouveau, was for both artists Morris's theories on the valorisation of a period of explosive creativity, achievement, applied arts, and the rejection of historicist and success. They were both over thirty by eclecticism. then. At the 1902 Turin Fair - the first interna- tional exhibition dedicated exclusively to mo- Mazzucotelli's initiation took place thanks to dern decorative arts, with the participation of his mingling with artists in the evening schools Mackintosh, Tiffany, and Behrens - Mazzuco- of the Società Patriottica, and especially his telli obtained the highest praise for his stand, szopkapraczka famousexecution Eugenio Quarti, Detail of an oak cupboard exhibited in Turin in 1902, Drawing published in Arte Italiana Decorativa e Industriale, February 1904 125 Uncommon Culture SHORT ARTICLES ART NOUVEAU Eugenio Quarti, One of the doors of the Kursaal casino in San Pellegrino Terme; watercolour drawing of a decorative detail, 1907 (Bertarelli Civic Prints Collection, Milan) which his friend Bugatti had decorated. Quarti a position to help themselves by providing them with himself was so famous by then that he at- jobs, assistance, and education. tended as an out-of-competition participant. After this event, the board of the newly Starting in 1903 - at that time the applied arts established Società Umanitaria appointed were held in the same regard as the so-called them as directors of its first two schools of major arts - Quarti and Mazzucotelli dedicated applied arts, whose educational principle was themselves selflessly to teaching, seeing in their to achieve practical utility through the simplicity of students the same hardships they went decorations; obtaining a style that defines our era through. While they had been absorbed by through painstaking, perfect execution. Before assu- very demanding client orders in Italy and ming their posts, the Società funded a trip to abroad, a rapid shift took place over the course London and Paris so that they could see the of a few years from a floral, soft, and natu- new developments first hand. Quarti and Maz- ralistic Art Nouveau style to more rigid forms, zucotelli extended the trip to Belgium and with a focus on geometry, influenced by the Netherlands for a broader perspective. rigor of the secessionist movement. This gra- dual evolution is evident both in their final The Società Umanitaria, an extraordinary works and in preparatory sketches. These charity institution, was established thanks to drawings both Quarti's and Mazzucotelli's - a bequest by the philanthropist Prospero are held in the Bertarelli Civic Collection of Moisé Loria to the Municipality of Milan for the Prints at the Sforza Castle in Milan. purpose of putting the deprived, with no distinction, in 126 przeniszczka Uncommon Culture Alessandro Mazzucotelli, Wrought iron and glass dragonfly lamp exhibited at the 1906 Milan Sempione Exhibition charcoal sketch of a dragonfly (Bertarelli Civic Prints Collection, Milan) Quarti's lines are slender and delicate, his de- due to the flowerbud-shaped knots interrup- pictions precise. The item of furniture to be ting the linear motifs. Quarti created all the built is complete with all its details, and the wooden furnishings - furniture, panelling, and models are then faithfully reproduced: the Art doors - for the Kursaal municipal casino in San Nouveau character of the studio desk presen- Pellegrino Terme, an imposing building ted at the 1902 International Exhibition in completed in 1907, which Mazzucotelli also Turin manifests itself in the great purity of its worked on. Quarti's style lost its Art Nouveau lines. It is a hymn to lightness, the carved legs mellowness and evolved towards a more rigid are slender, and the tabletop is a flat surface and stylized Proto-Déco approach. whose shorter sides curve upwards. Although the decorative motifs - leaves or flowers - are Mazzucotelli's drawings are very different in inspired by nature, they are so stylized as to be- style. His charcoal lines are thick and well mar- come unrecognizable. Curved lines are under- ked, his depictions dynamic with the imme- stated; there are no sharp corners; the im- diacy of a sketch. His drawings are the first pression is of constant fluidity. Quarti, who step in his working process. Based on the field was a connoisseur of wood, chose his ma- observation of flowers, leaves, insects, and terials in light of their function and the way small animals, the blacksmith made a quick they would be carved. The dining room cup- initial sketch; later, in the studio, he would use it board decorated with floral carvings - also to prepare a more accurate, analytical drawing. exhibited in Turin in 1902 - was fashioned The next step was a life-size drawing on a pier- from oak, a strong, tough wood: the marked ced cardboard cut-out. In some cases, prior to chiaroscuro of the decorations highlights their forging the final work, Mazzucotelli made plasticity and relief, while the threadlike metal a clay or putty model of it. The dragonfly, appliqués betray their Art Nouveau origins a topic of international Art Nouveau was duealso achallengeteritySewas 127 Uncommon Culture SHORT ARTICLES ART NOUVEAU a challenge: an icon of lightness and fragility a support for his lamps. The first time he wrought out of iron seemed to be a contradic- displayed one of his serpent sculptures was at tion in terms. Mazzucotelli applied eyes to the the Sempione exhibition, but over the years he dragonfly's body, fashioned wings out of iron would create numerous versions of it, with one leaf, and moulded the legs from a small square or more animals. Also in 1906, he built the gate iron wire.