LARGE STUDIO POTTERY VASE BY SWISS-ITALIAN CERAMICIST MARIO MASCARIN

A large graphically decorated studio pottery vase in black and gray by the Swiss-Italian ceramicist Mario Mascarin. There is a shallow chip on the foot ring that is not visible when displayed. MARIO MASCARIN (1901-1966) was born in Rivarolo Ligure (Italy) to Eugenio Mascarin (customs officer) and Irene, née Sala, and grew up in Venice. His mother died only thirteen months after his birth, and his father then married her sister Erminia Sala, who raised Mascarin. From 1920 to 1923 he initially trained as an accountant and did military service. In 1924/25 he made a study visit to Vienna and began to work as a journalist there. Back in Italy, he had his first encounter with ceramic work in a factory in Nove di Bassano. In 1927/28 Mascarin worked as an art critic and journalist in Ticino. From 1929 he was a special correspondent for an Italian newspaper in Norway. When this was banned by the fascists in Italy, Mascarin stayed in exile in Norway and trained as a ceramist. In 1932 he returned