FONDAZIONE BEVILACQUA LA MASA and ISRE - Forms of Clay. A Century of Sardinian Ceramics (1900–2000)

The ISRE – Higher Regional Institute for Ethnography of Sardinia, in collaboration with the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, presents the exhibition Forme d’argilla. Un secolo di ceramica sarda (1900–2000), on view from March 28 to April 25 at Palazzetto Tito in Venice.

Michele Ciacciofera, The Hand of Nature, 2024. ph. Michele Alberto Sereni. Courtesy BUILDING, Milano

The exhibition offers an extensive journey through the history of 20th-century Sardinian ceramics, highlighting the deep cultural and social roots of this artistic and artisanal tradition, as well as its gradual dialogue with modernity and contemporary research.

Through a selection of around eighty works—mainly from the Museo della Ceramica in Nuoro—the project traces the evolution of a production that, starting from everyday objects of the late 19th century—tableware, jugs, jars, and domestic utensils—developed throughout the 20th century into increasingly self-aware artistic and design forms. Initially tied to a functional dimension and a strong local identity, ceramics progressively opened up to new techniques, languages, and experimentation, entering into dialogue with art, design, and the international context.

Curated by Efisio Carbone, Director of the ISRE museum network, the exhibition begins with popular ceramics linked to Sardinia’s domestic and ritual life, then explores the renewal of Sardinian ceramics during the 20th century through key figures such as Francesco Ciusa and the Dorgali scene with Ciriaco Piras and Salvatore Fancello, alongside other protagonists of technical and stylistic development such as Federico Melis and Melkiorre Melis.

The exhibition also includes works by leading figures of the Sardinian artistic and craft landscape, including Saverio Farci, Eugenio Tavolara, Maria Lai, Giuseppe Silecchia, Gavino Tilocca, Paola Dessy, Costantino Nivola, Pinuccio Sciola, Edina Altara, and Alessandro Mola.

A section is also devoted to a comparison with the national context, where works by Italian ceramists are presented alongside Sardinian productions—particularly through the inclusion of Lenci and Essevi—highlighting affinities, influences, and cultural exchanges.

The exhibition finally opens to contemporary artistic ceramics, featuring works by Rossana Rossi, Michele Ciacciofera, Antonello Cuccu, Caterina Lai, Gianfranco Pintus, Lalla Lussu, and Cristina and Stefania Ariu, testifying to the vitality and continuity of a tradition capable of renewing itself in the present.

The show is further enriched by a video on ceramics by the duo NARENTE, commissioned by CRAFT – Sardegna Ricerche for the Regione Sardegna and presented in its full version at the Osaka World Expo.