Riccardo Gatti, Vase with storks

From 1928 to 1929 Faenza was the scene of the Futurist experience. It was in fact Marinetti himself who made the first Futurist plate at the Bottega Gatti, and dedicated a tile with the inscription “to Riccardo Gatti, first Futurist ceramist” to the founder of the Bottega. The basic idea was to transpose Futurist drawings onto ceramics, as in the case of the “motif of Fortune” which Gatti took from a sketch for a theatrical costume by Prampolini. The ceramics also took on original and in some cases “daring” forms such as the hexagonal coffee plates and cups in the shape of a mechanical bolt, based on an idea by Giacomo Balla. Also by Gatti is this “Vase with Storks” characterized by a decoration with precise, geometric strokes and bright colors. After the brief Futurist experience, Gatti turned to more classical figurative choices, characterized by lustrous surfaces.