Pompeo Pianezzola at the Museo Civico di Bassano del Grappa: A Retrospective for the Centenary
From May 31st to September 7th, 2025, the Museo Civico di Bassano del Grappa, in Venezia, Italy, will host a major retrospective dedicated to Pompeo Pianezzola (1925–2012), a leading figure in Italian ceramic art of the late twentieth century. Curated by Nico Stringa and organized to mark the centenary of the artist’s birth, the exhibition spans over sixty years of artistic exploration, highlighting Pianezzola’s remarkable versatility as a painter, ceramist, designer, and tireless experimenter.
LEFT: Pompeo Pianezzola, Blue Tide, 1980s. Private collection. © Alessandro Molinari; RIGHT: Pompeo Pianezzola, Marea blu, anni Ottanta. Collezione privata. © Alessandro Molinari
The Origins of a Venetian Master
Pianezzola was born in Nove, a small town in the province of Vicenza long associated with ceramic traditions. From a young age, he trained both in the Antonibon Barettoni workshop and at the Nove School of Art, later earning his diploma from the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice. His artistic career developed in parallel with his teaching, but it was in creative independence that he found his fullest expression—blending craftsmanship, avant-garde experimentation, and a continuous dialogue with contemporary language.
LEFT: Pompeo Pianezzola, Lattice with Birds, 1960. Painted majolica. Private collection. © Alessandro Molinari; RIGHT: Pompeo Pianezzola, Restoration, 1988–1989. Polychrome majolica. Private collection. © Alessandro Molinari
The Exhibition Path
Designed by ASA Studio Albanese, the exhibition leads visitors through eleven thematic sections featuring around 120 works, including ceramics, paintings, drawings, and artist’s books. From his early portraits to the peak of his informal period, from the celebrated majolica Shields that won the Faenza Prize in 1963 to the “Repetitions” and experiments with plexiglass and metal in the 1970s, all the way to his final paper-based works, the exhibition traces the full arc of Pianezzola’s creative journey.
LEFT: Pompeo Pianezzola, Bowls, Plates, Cups, 1960. Decorated Tuscan clay, glazed and decorated earthenware. Private collection. © Alessandro Molinari; RIGHT: Pompeo Pianezzola, Book, 1990s. Glazed refractory clay. Private collection. © Alessandro Molinari
A Universal Language Between Matter and Memory
Particularly moving is the 2003 homage to Antonio Canova: a series of works in white earthenware that poetically reinterpret the sculptor’s Carrara marble. But it is above all in the relationship between painting and sculpture, between material and mark, that the true stylistic essence of the Venetian artist emerges. His “pseudo-writings,” born from molded and scratched sheets of clay, seem to hold forgotten alphabets and primordial memories.
LEFT: Pompeo Pianezzola, No.18, 2008–2009. Pencil on paper. Private collection. © Alessandro Molinari; RIGHT: Pompeo Pianezzola, Homage to Canova, 2003. White earthenware. Private collection. © Alessandro
An Artistic Legacy That Speaks to the Present
More than a commemoration, this retrospective offers a chance to engage with the work of an artist who navigated decades of transformation while remaining true to an unmistakable inner voice. Pompeo Pianezzola didn’t merely shape matter—he questioned it, allowing it to become thought, gesture, vision. His ceramics, suspended between archaic memory and contemporary tension, continue to speak a universal language—vibrant, resonant, and strikingly relevant today.
LEFT: Pompeo Pianezzola, Wrapper, 1980s. Glazed refractory clay. Private collection. © Alessandro Molinari; RIGHT: Pompeo Pianezzola, Window, 1987. Glazed refractory clay. Private collection. © Alessandro Molinari
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