Large Glass Vase designed by Napoleone Martinuzzi for V.S.M. Venini & Co

Brown glass vase, model N° 3150, launched 1927

Napoleone Martinuzzi, in Venice (1892-1977)

Descendant of a family of master glassmakers from Murano, he studied sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice and Rome. Sculptor, designer and entrepreneur in the field of glass, Napoleone Martinuzzi became director of the Murano Glass Museum from 1922 to 1931. He joined forces with Paolo Venini and Francesco Zecchin in the company Vetri Soffiati Muranesi Venini & C. of which he becomes artistic director. After a period of influence from his predecessor Vittorio Zecchin in the blown glass technique, Martinuzzi created his own style by working with glass material like a sculptor. The very characteristic shape that I am presenting to you today (model 34150 from the Venini catalog) was designed by him in 1927, and exhibited for the first time during the “Mostra Futurista” in Florence in 1931 (bibliography: Laura Diaz de Santillana, Venini. .

At the beginning of the 1930s, Martinuzzi developed a new opaque glass technique "a pulegoso", a discovery exploited in 1928 resulting from a manufacturing defect (with the formation of air bubbles) transforming the glass into a spongy, compact mass and opaque. This series will make him internationally recognized as a prolific sculptor, having moved away from the classical tradition of Murano, while receiving a favorable reception from the public and specialized art critics.

The glass objects designed by Napoleone Martinuzzi between 1925 and 1931, when he was artistic director of Venini, have been the subject of particularly in-depth studies. During this collaboration with Paolo Venini, he designed beautiful objects with shapes inspired by classic design, while using innovative techniques and glass pastes. This period of exceptional creativity was the subject of a major exhibition at the Stanze Del Vetro in Venice, in 2013 (Napoleone Martinuzzi. Venini 1925 - 1931). Its curator, Marino Barovier, is the author of a very comprehensive catalog on this historical period of the Venini company.