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The Sign and the Ornament: Giò Pomodoro at "Museo del Gioiello"



courtesy of museodelgioiello.it

In the shadow of the Basilica Palladiana, in the heart of Vicenza, a precious little gem is kept: the Jewelery Museum (Museo del Gioiello). Opened in 2014, with an interior design designed by Patricia Urquiola, the museum displays artifacts divided into different rooms that do not respect a chronological order but a theme. The semi-permanent collection, changed every two years, is therefore subdivided on nine rooms that each represent a different theme: the symbol, the magic, the beauty, the function, fashion, design, art, icons and finally the future. Each has a different curator and collects famous pieces from the laboratories of names such as Van Cleef and Arpels, Maison Martin Margiela, Lalique, Bruno Munari or Alexander Calder. More or less recent pieces put in dialogue with others from much later eras such as fibula from the Iron Age, or 17th century ornaments, find their harmony and create food for thought and discussion.


courtesy of museodelgioiello.it

In addition to the permanent rooms on the ground floor there is a temporary exhibition that is renewed more times a year, that until September 19 will host a tribute to the jewels made by Giò Pomodoro. Born in Pesaro in 1930 and Arnaldo's younger brother, he is internationally famous, above all for being an extraordinary sculptor; in fact, his famous participation in the Venice Biennale of 1956 in which he made his debut with the fused silver on cuttlefish bone, inspired by the American poet Ezra Pound.


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This technique of using sepia bones as negative for the production of artifacts comes from the world of goldsmithery, with whom he had contact very early in his life training in the workshop of a goldsmith in Pesaro, the city where he lived with his family until his death father in the 50s.

In addition to Venice and the national territory in Milan, Turin, Ravenna, Padua and Florence - just to name a few - the presence of his works also extends abroad, confirming its international importance.


courtesy of museodelgioiello.it

The jewels on show reflect his way of seeing the spaces and the materials, starting from the first ones much more fluid and rounded creations of the '50s, obtained with traditional techniques like the fusion in cuttlefish bone, then move on to the late 60s and to the collaboration with GEM, of Giancarlo Montebello, with the first studies on reproducibility and seriality. The shapes become more geometric, defined and rigorous, sometimes resorting to the use of small mechanical games allow the jewel to become almost interactive, until you get to the 80s where the use of glazes and bright colors reveals itself perfectly in line with the taste of that decade.


courtesy of museodelgioiello.it

An important fact to consider, looking at the wonderful exposed pieces, is the Gio Pomodoro's formation in the goldsmith field. This means that all his creations are distinguished for the wearability, that is not a kind of miniature sculpture to be admired and exhibited, but they perfectly adorn the body of who dress them respecting the characteristics of portability of traditional jewelry. Even if the materials used are combined with those of jewelry, in fact we observe the great presence of yellow gold as well as that of stones such as diamonds, emeralds and rubies. What is different from the traditional instead are the forms, much more similar to design objects rather than jewels. The end result is a collection of pieces that fascinate and testify how the jewelry is a territory of exploration by worlds apparently externals, that actually succeed in inserting themselves and producing extraordinary things.


courtesy of museodelgioiello.it

Article in italian by Laura Zanovello

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