Since its opening, Galleria Michela Cattai has focused on the study, research and selection of works of Modern and Contemporary Art and Design by some of the most important artists and designers of the twentieth century and brought them together under one roof.

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© 2016 Galleria Michela Cattai

toni-zuccheri

Toni Zuccheri

Artist

Pierantonio Zuccheri, known as Toni, attended the Faculty of Architecture in Venice, under the guidance of the teachers: Ignazio Gardella, Franco Albini, Carlo Scarpa, Giuseppe Samonà. In the Venetian milieu he met prominent cultural personalities of the time, such as the likes of Giorgio De Chirico, Carlo Scarpa, Giorgio Bassani, Elio Zorzi, Mario Soldati. After graduating he worked on graphics and architectural installations and during he sixties, he discovered the art of glassmaking; and later became a master of glass. The artist inherited the inspiration of the subjects from his father (the animal-rights campaigner Luigi Zuccheri): flora and fauna being reoccurring protagonists of his artworks. In 1960 he joined the Venini Factory, in Murano: here Toni Zuccheri learnt how to work with glass. His first creation for the Venini was the beastiaries – for the most part represented by imaginative sculptures depicting birds, made by glass, metal, colored glass, and murrine. Some pieces, like The Turkey and The Guinea Fowl, are presented at the Venice Biennale in ’64, meeting a great success. The Hoopoe, one of the most valuable pieces of this first series, was still in production at this time. In 1965 along with Gio Ponti he designed the Vetrate Grosse. Afterwards Toni Zuccheri collaborated with other great artists of the time, as Lucio Fontana and Gaetano Pesce. In the following years, the artist continued to produce animal sculptures (the bestiaries) for Venini by assembling glass, bronze, wood, wax, painted chalk. Thanks to this personal technical research, he created some unique artworks. The eighties saw Toni Zuccheri collaborate with VeArt and Barovier & Toso. In 2009, the Venice Biennale dedicated a precious tribute to him, with an installation at the center of the Venetian Pavilion.