CLAUDIA CASALI
The International Museum of Ceramics, Faenza, Italy
direzione@micfaenza.org

THE LEGACY OF ALFONSO LEONI (1941-1980)
NASLEĐE ALFONSA LEONIJA (1941–1980)

Journal 17/2021 (Museum of Applied Art), pages 33-39

Article category: review article

UDC:
73/76.071.1 Леони А.
COBISS.SR-ID 53979657

Abstract:
Alfonso Leoni was an Italian artist, a great talent who unfortunately died very early, at age 39. His life was entirely dedicated to his art production and to his teaching at the School of Ceramics in Faenza.

His research was innovative and multidisciplinary for his time: he experienced not just ceramics, but also painting, sculpture, installation, performances, design. He was able to deepen the social issues present in Italy and Europe during the 1960s/1970s in his works. He looked at art as a means of reaching and developing new practices that have been taken as references, especially in the artistic practices of the artists born in the 1970s. I am not wrong when I say that he is the “father” of all the artists born in the 1970s, because that generation was able to improve his message of creativity, of liberation from the traditional concepts linked to ceramics, evolving in a more artistic way. His great performance at the Faenza Prize in 1976 is still written in the annals of Italian history of ceramics.

The analysis of the documents from his archive, in a long study that took 5 years of work, enabled me to study his personality as a protagonist within the Italian artistic system and the international ceramic system of relationships and competitions. Leoni was not just an Italy-based artist. He had the opportunity to exhibit abroad (Japan many times, Canada, Poland, former USSR, UK) with important achievements well-recognized by the organizers (some of his works belong to important public collections). We may say that his work is more international than ever before. In some way, we can say that he was a pioneer of the ceramic artistic sculpture.

Key words:
ceramic sculpture, Italian ceramic art, international ceramic competitions, artistic ceramic performances, innovation, design

Summary (translated):
Alfonso Leoni je bio italijanski umetnik, veliki talenat koji je, nažalost, preminuo veoma rano, u 39. godini. NJegov život je u potpunosti bio posvećen umetničkom stvaralaštvu i predavanju u Školi keramike u Faenci.

NJegovo istraživanje je bilo inovativno i multidisciplinarno za svoje vreme: imao je iskustva ne samo u keramici, već i u slikarstvu, skulpturi, instalaciji, performansima, dizajnu. Svojim radovima je umeo da produbi društvena pitanja aktuelna u Italiji i Evropi tokom 1960-ih/70-ih godina. Na umetnost je gledao kao na sredstvo za dostizanje i razvoj novih praksi koje su uzimane kao reference, posebno u umetničkim praksama umetnika rođenih 1970-ih. Ne grešim kada kažem da je on „otac” svih umetnika rođenih 1970-ih, jer je ta generacija bila u stanju da unapredi njegovu poruku kreativnosti, oslobađanja od tradicionalnih koncepata koji su se vezivali za keramiku, razvijajući se na više umetnički način. Umetnikov sjajan nastup na Nagradi Faence 1976. godine i dalje stoji zapisan u analima italijanske istorije keramike.

Analiza dokumenata iz njegove arhive, u dugoj studiji koja je obuhvatila 5 godina rada, omogućila mi je da proučavam njegovu ličnost kao protagoniste u okviru italijanskog umetničkog sistema i međunarodnog keramičkog sistema odnosa i konkursa. Leoni nije bio samo umetnik iz Italije. Imao je priliku da izlaže u inostranstvu (više puta u Japanu, Kanadi, Poljskoj, bivšem SSSR-u, Ujedinjenom Kraljevstvu) sa značajnim ostvarenjima koja su organizatori znali da prepoznaju (neki od njegovih radova pripadaju važnim javnim zbirkama). Možemo reći da je njegov rad internacionalniji nego ikada ranije.

Na neki način možemo reći i da je bio pionir keramičke umetničke skulpture.

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