Apparently, the great wrought iron artist/craftsman Alessandro Mazzucotelli (1865-1938) once claimed: “Iron should be treated like a woman: he seems hard and terrible, but with a little fire he turns soft like wax. And when it seems to rebel, do not mistreat and hammer it furiously, no! You have to treat it gently and caress it…”
Fanciful similarities aside – which hail from uncertain sources and should be interpreted with due irony – the works of this great artist (a sculptor, we could say) show a deep love for iron and its material features.
Mazzucotelli, born in Lombardy, was one of the top figures in Italy’s Art Nouveau.
In the first half of the 1900s, his work was renowned all over Europe. In 1925, he took part in the Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes in Paris (which launched Art Deco). In the same year, he was also invited to the 2nd Monza Biennale; invited again the following edition, he was able to accept in 1927.
Mazzucotelli was also an entrepreneur – founding in 1909 a company in Milan that would go on to export beautiful artifacts in the whole world – and a teacher (he taught for years at Monza’s Istituto superiore per le Industrie artistiche, which he had founded in 1922).
Here is a selection of lamps and chandeliers forged by this master.
Dragonfly Lamp, 1906
Dragonfly Lamp, 1906
Pair of table lamps, 1920-25
Butterfly Lamp, wrought iron and wood, early 1900s
The Snakes, bronze and marble, 1906 (Chiara and Francesco Carraro collection, Venice)
Pair of lamps, ca. 1910
Lamp, detail
Lamp, detail
Four-light chandelier, early 1900s
Chandelier, detail
Six-light chandelier, early 1900s
Small light fixture, 1911-14, Villa Romeo, currently Columbus Clinic, Milan
Small light fixture, detail
Small light fixture, 1911-13, Villa Romeo, currently Columbus Clinic, Milan
Lamppost, early 1900s, Villa Ottolini-Tosi, Busto Arsizio
