Tullio d'Albisola

Tullio d'Albisola, pseudonym of Tullio Mazzotti, born in Albisola Superiore on December 2, 1899, was an Italian ceramist, sculptor, publisher, and writer. In 1903, his father, Giuseppe, founded the "Giuseppe Mazzotti Traditional and Modern Art Ceramics Factory." This was a kiln for the production of artistic ceramics, where Tullio worked alongside his father and brother Torido. In the mid-1920s, Tullio joined the Futurist movement and was nicknamed Tullio d'Albisola by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. A group of young artists from Turin came to Albisola to design and create models for the Mazzotti company. As a result, Albisola became a meeting place for painters, sculptors, and intellectuals associated with the Futurist movement. In 1925, Tullio conceived dynamic ceramics with vibrant, dazzling colors and forms inspired by Futurism: these were the first anti-decorative, or anti-imitative, ceramics, as Tullio himself defined them in his 1939 pamphlet "Futurist Ceramics." In 1927, Tullio participated in the Third Biennial of Decorative Arts in Monza and began collaborating with Bruno Munari. In 1932, together with Marinetti, he designed the first book printed on tin-iron sheets, lithographed in color. Tullio designed serial sculptures in "chrome-aluminum" alloy, which were produced by the Mantegazza foundry in Varazze starting in 1930. In the 1950s, the artist collaborated with artists such as Lucio Fontana, Giacomo Manzù, Giuseppe Capogrossi, and Aligi Sassu. In 1954, Tullio was appointed an adjunct member of the International Academy of Ceramics in Geneva. He died in Albissola Marina on May 19, 1971.

Artworks

Polycentric Service (1929)