Luzzati's Magic Mind

Upon returning to the United States, I devoured the small book that provided a high level review of Luzzati’s career.  In those pages, I discovered why he was not well known as an artist.  Luzzati never thought of himself as a traditional artist, but rather saw himself first as a craftsman.  What is the difference?  Well, that is a little difficult to explain, but there has been an ongoing debate during the past century, and likely longer between what is art, and what is craft. 

Craftsmen create objects, which might have some artistic details, but generally speaking are not considered art.  Usually they are consigned to the realm of the “decorative arts.” 

Artist on the other hand use their imagination, vision, and skills to create art using any means possible.  Usually this art has some statement about mankind, or might symbolize some great truth.  The craftsmanship that goes into the object is secondary to the creative expression of the piece. 

However, there really is no such thing as an artist that has no craftsmanship to his work, or a craftsman who uses no creative abilities.   Artist however will sometimes take offence at any comparison to the craftsman.  Craftsmen usually have no desire to be a known artist and will gladly take any commission offered to them. 

Luzzati 1953

Luzzati spent his career working as a craftsman using his artistic training.  When the Italian race laws came about in 1938,( he is Jewish) he left Genova Italy to study art under the sculptor Edoarod Alfieri and the painter Onofrio Martinelli.  He moved to Lausanne, Switzerland in 1940, where he took up studies at the School of Fine and Applied Arts. 

After World War Two ended, Luzzati explored illustrations, theater, animation, applied art, and urban décor during his hyper prolific career, and he never had to leave Genova Italy to do this.  The ship yard for the Italian line was right there and his murals graced nearly all of the ships built post WW2. 

The same man creating murals for the dining rooms of ships, could illustrate children’s books with images like these,

Adventures of Marco Polo, 1975

Ronald & The Wizard Calico, 1962

And could also create ceramic murals such as the one below. 

Ceramic Mural, Transportation, 1958

Or create the stage sets such as this one,

Set for Candide, 1994

Facade, 1983

Candide, 1994

Or create the wonderful animation of the “Thieving Magpie,” which was nominated for an Oscar in 1964. 

Thieving Magpie, 1964

This animation by the way is incredible, so please do take the ten minutes to view.  It is very fun. 

Or create posters such as these.

1970, Le Cirque Imaginaire

Spoleto Festival, 1993

He worked from 1944 to 2006.   He died at 86, on the day he was to be awarded “Grifo d’oro”, the highest tribute of the City of Genova to one of their citizens. 

Emanuele Luzzati, 1998

 I had no idea when I stood before that mural in Los Angeles I would find such a wonderful gift of an artist-craftsman as Luzzati. So, what is fantasy?  It is a story about something.  Luzzati said that "fantasy is when a chair is not a chair, but something else."  Luzzati is an artist of fantasy, using his imagination to give us a beautiful colorful world. His mind could take the ordinary and transform it into the extraordinary, which is the source of that smile when you read his books, behold his stages, or view his animated movies.  

Was he a craftsman, or an artist?  He was a student of Marc Chagall’s colors.  He loved the work of Pablo Picasso.  Looking at everything Luzzati created, I would say he was someone dedicated to making people smile.   Luzzati’s magic mind gave fantastic creations  to the world that brought warmth, joy, and laughter for a career of 62 years. 

His museum is small, but his following is very large.  If you are ever in Genova, stop by Porto Antico, and check out the small museum and smile.  

In Search of Fantasie

Every few years, I simply must fly someplace where no one speaks any English and I am safe from my fellow Americans.  Some of you just might understand.  I love them, just sometimes more from half a world away.  Plus, I really just needed a reason to check out the Luzzati Museum in Genova Italy. I had been trying to reach them by email to get a list of books they had in their bookstore, but no luck.  I realize that when people go to Europe to see a museum it is usually the Louvre in Paris, or maybe the Guggenheim in Venice.  My trip began at this very small museum and bookstore, but it did not end there.   After a few hours I left with a single book written in both English and Italian about the man.

 

Then I was off to Antibes to see the Picasso Museum.  Due to very creative travel contacts, I was able to rent a room over looking the Grimaldi Catstle for just 220 Euros for the week.  I climbed four flights of spiral stairs made of old marble. Now that is really French. 

Antibes is a very small ocean fortress town just West of Nice.  Biot is a craftsmanship village just outside of Antibes.   If you like modern cubism then go to the National Museum for Fernand Leger.   

And don’t pass up down the road the famous La Verrerie glass factory and pick up a bowl of this wonderful bubbled colored glasswork for a few Euros.

  

On the way back, why not stop off in a cafe for some snails.  You know I did!

And be sure to check out Jaume Plensa giant "Nomade" when you get back to Antibes. 

I never quite got Chagall, until I was standing in front of one of his gigantic paintings.  In books you never get the scope or size of a painting.  In person however, the Chagall Museum in Nice is overwhelming.

Not because of the number of images, but due to the power of Chagall’s work.  In the theater there is a set of his famous stain glass windows. 

The Matisse museum is just up the hill and is a great walk.  Don’t worry if it is a little warm because sorbet stations are everywhere in France and Italy. 

Photography is a hit and miss game in European Museums.  I could take pictures at the Luzatti, Chagall, Leger and Modern art museums but not at the Picasso or Matisse Museums

The collection is a tad eclectic at the Nice Museum of Modern art but the building is a great space.   If you get to the top you can get a view of Nice on these outdoor walkways.   The people watching was more entertaining than the art in this museum.  I will never forget the man who walked slowly from painting to painting, wearing cowboy boots, and a white mechanics jumpsuit.  

France is best at night.  I spent a lot of time walking after a late dinner, snapping photographs of the doorways and passageways of the old streets.

If you wish to find the best view of Nice, just East of the bay, there is a small hill with a water tower on it, and you can climb a pathway that takes you up to the top of this hill that overlooks the city and the bay.  It is the Parc de la Colline du Chateau.  There is a sorbet hut at the top and incredible view of the city and sea.

If you want a really nice Cote d’azure beach get on the train and just East is Villefranche sur Mer.  But don’t’ tell anyone because it is a secret.

Eventually, I had to be an adult and to return to California.  This was a difficult vacation, because the weather was ideal, the art I had seen fantastic, and those sorbet stations were a burden.  I checked into my flight, dreading speaking English again, with a copy of Luzzati in my hands the entire way home.

Because I am going to be honest with you about this trip, I just wanted the book.  All that other stuff I did and those pictures, well, I took those for you.  

And inside the  pages of that book,  I discovered an amazing artist of fantasy virtually unknown when compared to Picasso, Chagall, and Leger, but evert bit as rich. 

To be continued. 

p.s. if you have never been to the Cote-d-azure, go.  This trip I did completely on my own without a tour company.  I am a little brave because I can speak French, read Greek, bluff Spanish, smile through German, and was just curious about Italian. But have a plan because there is a lot to be seen in this area of Europe and I only covered a fraction of what I was able to see and do in two weeks here in this blog.