Collection: Carlo Scarpa

Carlo Scarpa (Venice, 1906 - Sendai, 1978) was one of the most influential architects, designers and academics on the 20th century Italian and international art scene. An atypical and unconventional figure, Scarpa is still an important reference for architecture and his contribution to teaching, which earned him the nickname, Professor. He graduated from the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice to pursue his dream of becoming a painter, but it was architecture that impassioned the young Scarpa. His first mentor was Guido Cirilli, who provided him with a theoretical basis later supplemented by practical skills acquired in Vincenzo Rinaldo's studio. In 1926, he was awarded the diploma of professor of architectural design. He began his long academic career at the newly founded Venice University Institute of Architecture (IUAV) as an assistant to Cirilli. At the same time, he also began his prolific professional career without forgetting his passion for art, which led him to frequent the lively and cosmopolitan Venetian artistic milieu. There he met wealthy clients for whom he designed the interiors of villas and apartments, including modernist furniture.

In 1931, he joined the Rationalist Movement in open opposition to the academic Novecento current. However, his approach to architecture differed from rigorous modernism by focusing on existing buildings and historical heritage. His architecture is characterised by extreme refinement of detail, geometric virtuosity and a very personal poetics of materials. From 1932 to 1946, he was artistic director of the prestigious Murano Venini glassworks, producing vases, chandeliers and bowls, the result of continuous experimentation that sought perfect minimalist form. His intention was to transcend existing aesthetic codes while remaining in the furrow of the centuries-old glassblowing tradition. His work was inspired by the architects of the early Viennese Secession, Japanese art and Frank Lloyd Wright, whom Scarpa is said to have taken to visit the Venini ateliers in 1951.

Scarpa's work goes beyond rigid stylistic boundaries. Whether it is buildings, furniture or ornaments, his approach begins with the study of the infinite possibilities offered by a material, working in close contact with expert artisans. Scarpa created many masterpieces during his long career, including hundreds of architectural works, restorations of ancient buildings, museum and exhibition layouts; and he taught for more than fifty years. The bulk of his work is housed in an archive containing over 40,000 documents, now divided between the Carlo Scarpa Centre in Treviso and MAXXI in Rome. Carlo Scarpa died in 1978 in Sendai, Japan, after a fall.