Vittorio Zecchin

Biography

Venice travelers with a penchant for Art Nouveau art would have been recommended to stay at the Hotel Terminus in 1914, because there, in the dining room, they could admire the magnificent cycle of paintings 'A Thousand and One Nights' by Vittorio Zecchin, born in Murano in 1878. The paintings belong to the main works of the Italian Stile Liberty. Today the paintings hang, though not quite complete, in the Museo Internazionale d'Arte Moderna. Vittorio Zecchin, son of a glassblower, studied painting before making a career in the glass industry. During his training at the Venice Academy of Art already, he was bored with the salon style of his teachers. He preferred to be guided by models from Central Europe. At first he was interested in the symbolist works of Jan Toorop, who came from Java. Then, like many others, Vittorio Zecchin became enthusiastic about the works of Gustav Klimt, which were exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1910. Not only did Zecchin adopt many themes and iconographic motifs from the Austrian, but also the linearity and lush figure decoration. Together with the artist Teodoro Wolf Ferrari, whom he had met in the circle of the Ca' Pesaro artists, Vittorio Zecchin exhibited his first glass paintings and vases with Murrine decoration, executed by the Artisti Barovier company, at the Windhager Salon in Munich in 1913. A year later, the artist duo showed new glass works influenced by the paintings of the Secession at the Venice Biennale. Among them was the glass painting Barbaro, which can be seen today in the Museo Vetrario in Murano. During the war years, Vittorio Zecchin, who was not drafted into military service due to his walking disability, concentrated on the designs of tapestries and fabrics, which he had produced in a workshop set up for the purpose. At the first exhibition after the war, at Ca' Pesaro in 1919, however, he showed not only the fabrics created during the war years, but also a series of painted glasses whose ornaments and figures were reminiscent of the stylized motifs of the Vienna Secession.

In 1921, Vittorio Zecchin took over the artistic direction of the newly founded Vetri Soffiati Muranesi Cappellin Venini & C. glass manufactory. In contrast to his previous designs, he went without murine decorations and also stopped cold paintings with enamel for his new client. Zecchin now created thin-walled blown glasses in simple shapes and colors. He was inspired by the paintings of the artists Tintoretto, Holbein and Veronese from the 16th century and studied the vessels of the past pictured there. Critics were enthusiastic when his works were shown at a survey exhibition. Francesco Sapori remarked enthusiastically, "He revisits the forgotten traditions ... he preserves the pure essence of glass, the elemental colors, without eccentric pretensions, to make everything mellifluous, simple and beautiful." When Paolo Venini and Giacomo Cappellin parted ways, Vittorio Zechin followed the Milanese antiques dealer and became artistic director of the new company M.V.M. Cappellin & C., whose glasses were etched with the signature "MVM Cappellin Murano" to better distinguish them from Venini products. After only one year, Zecchin left the Cappellin company again and worked as a freelancer for various glass manufacturers: in 1932, the A.VE.M. company realized his designs for the Venice Biennale. In collaboration with the company Studio Ars Labor Industrie Riunite, known as S.A.L.I.R. he created soffiati with engraved decorations by Franz Pelzel. At the company Vetreria e Soffieria Barovier Seguso & Ferro, founded in 1933, Zecchin took over the artistic direction for a short time before finally retiring as a designer because he could not come to terms with the prevailing Novecento style favored by the Fascists.