AVEM. Arte Vetraria Muranese Artistic Production 1932-1972

The intense colours and wide range of complex forms and decoration have helped Murano glass art garner a unique international reputation. And this also holds true for the Arte Vetraria Muranese manufactory. Its prominence is owed to, among other things, colour effects created by superimposing alternating opaque and transparent layers of glass with gold and silver leaf inlaid between them. These unique glassworks with their perfectly balanced forms, bright colours and delicate decoration attest to the mastery of the glassblowers, who have achieved extraordinary things in the field of studio glass, a far cry from familiar mass production.

Since AVEM was not founded until 1932, it was active for a shorter period of time than many other manufactories. The founders, however, soon attracted attention. The five names that get the pulse of any collector racing are Antonio Luigi Ferro, his sons Egidio and Ottone, and Galliano Ferro and Emilio Nason.

It was he who began the glass production that was represented at the Venice Biennale from its very first year. The artistically most demanding phase of AVEM took place between 1940 and 1960, in which Giulio Radi, the then artistic director, experimented with chemical reactions of gold and silver leaf on a variety of glass masses, the so-called reazione policrome. Further outstanding products include the anse volanti pieces by Giorgio Ferro, which were exhibited at the 1952 Biennale, as well as objects by Luigi Scarpa Croce and Anzolo Fuga.

Literature on AVEM has long been scarce, but this has fundamentally changed with this current publication by the accomplished Murano expert Marc Heiremans. Having reviewed the company’s complex history, he presents, alongside well-informed texts, a list of model numbers, which makes it possible to date the individual pieces more accurately than ever before. A comprehensive illustrated section features the masterpieces from the company’s history, followed by reproductions of design drawings and historical photographs from the fi rm’s archive. A standard compendium on AVEM which no specialist library in this field should be without.
 

About the author

Since 1980, Marc Heiremans has earned a solid reputation as an international expert in 20th century Murano glass, with extensive historical and technical knowledge of this art discipline. He has published several reference works on glass and ceramics and has contributed to the development of several major private collections in Europe and the United States. In 1996, the Corning Museum of Glass (USA) invited him to give a presentation during a symposium on Italian glass. He has also curated several exhibitions in Europe. His gallery, which was established in Ghent in 1986, moved to Antwerp in 2019. Here he shows high-quality 20th century ceramics and glass, alongside contemporary objects and furniture, that are designed and produced by artists in limited editions.