MARCELLO FANTONI CUBE VASE

This Italian cube vase awash in color was designed by Marcello Fantoni. Imported and distributed in the USA by Raymor, the label style dates this piece to the 1960s. The colorful glaze is reminiscent of an abstract watercolor painting which was a popular decor style of the period, used by Fantoni as well as by Ivo de Santis for Gli Etruschi. The rough texture, splotches, and sgraffito scratches are original to the piece and are intentional. The style is reminiscent of the Japanese aesthetic of Wabi-sabi which is sometimes described as one of beauty that is 'imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete'. MARCELLO FANTONI was born in Florence in 1915.  He began his studies at the Instituto d’Arte Porta Romana in Florence at the age of twelve under the great ceramicist Carlo Guerrini, then the creative director of the famed Cantagalli Factory.  Fantoni's training in the arts included sculpture classes with Libero Andreotti and Bruno Innocenti and instruction in figure drawing with the painter