ALVINO BAGNI ‘SEA GARDEN’ TURBINE VASE (18 cm)

A very nice Alvino Bagni "turbine" with a series of cogs and piercings circling the upper portion below the mouth.  The dynamic form is dressed in Bagni's famous 'Sea Garden' glaze with its mixture of green, blue, yellow, and goldenrod.  Condition is pristine; it stands roughly 18 cm (7.4") tall. ALVINO BAGNI was born in Lastra a Signa in the environs of Florence in 1919.  His boyhood and adolescence were spent without his father, who, as a communist, had been exiled under fascism.  A young Bagni learned the basics of drawing and clay modeling under the tutelage of artist and sculptor Torello Santini.  His interest in ceramics, a locally important industry, grew, and he found work at Arnaldo Pugi’s furnace in Ponte a Signa.  Following WWII, Pugi helped Bagni finance the opening of his own studio, BAGNI CERAMICHE, where several family members were employed—including wife Gina, who would work along side Bagni throughout his career.  3,500 elephant-head plates bearing the slogan “I like