Lorenzo Burchiellaro (1933 - 2017) sculptor, designer, metalsmith
Lorenzo Burchiellaro was born in 1933 in Venice where he completed his early schooling and then studied metal arts at the Academy of Fine Arts. There he trained in classical Venetian techniques that emphasized a deep understanding of materials and finishes, learning how to work with precious metals, bronze, brass, aluminum, tin, zinc, and also copper, for which he cultivated a special affinity. Burchiellaro continued his studies in the sculpture department at the School of Fine Arts in Padua, rounding off his knowledge of materials and cultivating an extremely sensitive approach to manipulating them so as to fully realize their essential qualities via form.
Burchiellaro’s earliest works date from around the same time he completed his studies in the early 1950s. Among these are sculptural vessels that combined modern form together with a more primal sense of materiality and texture, an aesthetic befitting the ascending Brutalist movement in Italy at the time. He also made one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces that were veritable wearable sculptures. These caught the eye of Peggy Guggenheim, who commissioned earrings from him and introduced him to the influential Fucina degli Angeli. Founded in Venice as an artists’ cooperative in 1950 and subsidized by Ms. Guggenheim, Fucina degli Angeli was reputed for presenting modern sculptures in Murano glass designed by great artists of the period (Chagall, Picasso, Kokoschka, Max Ernst, etc.). Invited by the collective to exhibit in 1955, Burchiellaro presented a chessboard sculpted in bronze and silver, as well as table lamps in copper and resin, and from here his career took off. In 1958 Gio Ponti bought six Burchiellaro enamel bowls and invited him to go work with him in Milan, but he declined, preferring to work on his own. In 1960 the 27-year-old artist was given his first solo show at the Myricae Gallery in Rome where he exhibited his first table clocks, or “moving sculptures” as he called them, along with a series of bowls in hammered copper bearing the unmistakable look of his handcrafting.
Burchiellaro set up his own studio in Padua where he experimented with metalworking techniques, fueled by a desire to elevate even common industrial metals such as aluminum and zinc to a new level of artistry. He did this not only by giving these metals unique shapes, but also by refining their textures through the use of acids, oxides, patinas, and etching to create textures and palettes that transformed the look of them. Copper especially inspired him to develop its fullest chromatic range. This is evident in the side and coffee tables Burchiellaro designed in the 1960s, wherein he arranged straight-cut copper sections on top of wood, forming striking patterns in different vibrant shades. The total effect was at once that of a piece of modern art and of meticulous craft. Atelier Burchiellaro would become well known for this kind of artistic use of metals not only in furniture, but also in decorative and functional objects.
Burchiellaro participated in the 1962 and 1964 Venice Biennales, and in the 1965 Milan Triennale, where he exhibited a copper cabinet clock in silver-cast aluminum and bronze etched with highly detailed patterns not unlike a Paul Klee painting in relief. In 1967 he was invited by the Italian government to exhibit in the Italian Pavilion of the Montreal World’s Fair, and was also awarded a gold prize by the city of Venice for his work in a group show at the Bevilacqua Gallery. In 1968 he presented the first in a series of large cups in molded aluminum, and
of copper ball sculptures in patinated copper that was hammered and chiseled, giving the textural effect of a ceramic work. Burchiellaro also took on a couple of important commissions that year, notably a 3.5-meter statue of Christ and a baptistery both in molded bronze for the Benguela Cathedral in Angola. This is where his significance as an innovator is well exemplified, for besides his mastery of metalworking, Burchiellaro simplified and modernized traditional techniques, inventing a new method for molding without wax. Where the lost wax method could typically take a month to complete, he could now do so in a day.
Burchiellaro continued collaborating with architects throughout Italy on site-specific projects, creating statues for churches in Florence, Padua, and Trevise. He also collaborated through the 1960s with his wife, artist Xenia Valenti, making a series of wall plaque icons in hand-painted enameled glass on wood, typically depicting modern renditions of classical religious imagery and engraved “Xburchiellaro” as their joint signature. 1970 saw Burchiellaro introduce aluminum wave-form objects, including a number of mirror designs and even umbrella stands, his distinctive sculptural prowess evident throughout. Among his iconic designs from the period are wrought-metal lamps in undulating shapes that beautifully balance positive and negative space. Every year from 1971 to 1993 he exhibited these and numerous new designs at Milan’s Eurodomus furniture show. In the 1980s, influenced by reading the Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra, as well as by the theory of entropy, Burchiellaro further experimented conceptually and materially, leading to the creation of his “newspaper” objects. These metal and mixed-media sculptures–some poised on pedestals and others serving as table bases–are like Brutalist visions of unfurling newspapers, and stand as solid testament to his sculptural ingenuity.
Burchiellaro continued working right into the early 21st century. In 2005 the Pesaro Museum, seat of the International Gallery of Modern Art in Venice, dedicated an exhibition to him entitled, De re Metallica: Burchiellaro Sculture and Alchemy (The Metal King: Burchiellaro Sculpture and Alchemy), apt title for a modern master of Italian metal sculpture and design. Embodying great craftsmanship and artistry, all of Burchiellaro’s work displays richness of material harmoniously integrated with line and form, all highlighted by the exacting detail he gave each piece. Today his work is exhibited and collected throughout the world, and figures highly in the most reputable auction houses. Lorenzo Burchiellaro himself was known to be very unassuming, preferring to work in natural daylight in the garden of his hillside home and studio in Padua. He died there in 2017.
Exhibition
2005: De re Metallica: Burchiellaro Scultura e Alchimie, Musei di Pesaro, Venezia
Museum
Museum of Medieval and Modern Art, Padua
Publication
Lorenzo Burchiellaro, Catalogue, Piasa, Paris, 2014
