This article serves to clear the air by articulating the histories between Giacomo Cappellin and Paolo Venini, as I see so much confusion and misinformation surrounding the production of their partnership company and their subsequent separate companies. The following will discuss the glass production of VSM Cappellin Venini & C., MVM Cappellin & C., and VSM Venini & C. over the period of 1921 to 1932.
In 1921, Giacomo Cappellin and Paolo Venini entered into a partnership to open a glass company named Vetri Soffiati Muranese Cappellin Venini & C., often abbreviated to VSM Cappellin Venini or simply Cappellin Venini. The two assumed the furnace of the struggling Andrea Rioda glassworks, the latter, who had died untimely in 1921, was originally supposed to be a partner in the new company. This new glass company employed Vittorio Zecchin as their Artistic Director, which was a new concept for Venetian glass producers. Zecchin would design all of the production for VSM Cappellin Venini until May of 1925 when they shuttered. Under the general direction from his employers, Zecchin’s aesthetic was very modern, simplistic, and refined, and his designs were stripped of the excessive details leaving only essential elements. These designs officially brought modernism to the Island of Murano and to its glass production. Zecchin made soffiato glass stylish, once again, and catapulted Murano glassblowing onto the world stage where it had been so many times before.
Partners Giacomo Cappellin and Paolo Venini officially split in May of 1925 and each established their own respective companies, Maestri Vetrai Muranesi Cappellin & C. and Vetri Soffiati Muranese Venini & C., by June of 1925.
Upon the dissolution of VSM Cappellin Venini & C., Vittorio Zecchin followed Giacomo Cappellin and became Artistic Director for MVM Cappellin & Company. Zecchin continued to design transparent glass models in the modernist aesthetic, with input also from Giacomo Cappellin himself. Simultaneously, MVM Cappellin produced models previously designed by Zecchin at Cappellin Venini, oftentimes with slight variations or additions, including controlled bubbles, deep ribbing, other colors, and minor changes to the original form. He departed from that role in October of 1926 upon which his successor, Carlo Scarpa, would fill that vacant position. Prior to officially assuming the Artistic Director role, however, Carlo Scarpa did on occasion design glass objects for MVM Cappellin. Most notably the famous ball vase atop a truncated cone foot whose silhouette would end up on the paper label for the glassworks. Carlo Scarpa brought a refreshed aesthetic to the glassworks with his new line of transparent glass, often utilizing more geometric lines compared to his predecessor. Soon after, in collaboration with Giacomo Cappellin, various other series came to rise, oftentimes executed fully or partially in opaque glass, including lattimo, decoro fenicio, pasta vitrea, filigrane, and incamiciato, among others. After six years of glass production, Giacomo Cappellin was forced to shutter MVM Cappellin & C. in January of 1932. During this short tenure, a very passionate Giacomo Cappellin was able to combine the some of the very best glassblowers on the Island with the design talents of a young and eager Carlo Scarpa, resulting in some of the most revered production the Island of Murano has ever seen.
Paralleling the production of MVM Cappellin, Paolo Venini and his new company, VSM Venini & C., employed Napoleone Martinuzzi as Artistic Director in 1925 and set out to create glass of their own unique interpretation. In the beginning, Martinuzzi penned modern glass forms for execution in transparent glass, still immensely popular at the time. Soon after, he would design multiple new series in various other glass types, including incamiciato, mixed glass which emulated semi-precious gemstones, filigrane, and pulegoso. The latter was arguably Martinuzzi’s most famous contribution to glassmaking and was first offered to the public in 1928. Pulegoso glass, often executed with great thickness, consists of frothy, irregular bubbles that result in an uneven surface with a dense translucent-to-opaque quality, pairing perfectly with Martinuzzi’s background as a sculptor. Martinuzzi frequently was inspired by ancient forms, drawing influence from his capacity as the Director of the Murano Glass Museum (1922 to 1931). These ancient forms can be seen in the various glass types produced by VSM Venini. Like other glass companies, they often produced the same models in various décor types. After great success, Napoleone Martinuzzi would leave VSM Venini & C. in January of 1932.
When examining the production of all three companies, the original designs by Vittorio Zecchin for VSM Cappellin Venini continued to be produced by both MVM Cappellin and VSM Venini. This is due to both partners having copies of the design catalogs from their original partnership. With that, not every single design was reproduced by the subsequent separate companies. Colors and glass décor types can help to differentiate the production of each company. For example, VSM Cappellin Venini did not produce incamiciato glass, but both MVM Cappellin and VSM Venini did. So, you can have a Zecchin design for VSM Cappellin Venini in glass types not originally produced by them. As an aside, VSM Cappellin Venini strictly produced transparent glass, sometimes iridized, with the only deviation being a very small amount of lattimo glass. MVM Cappellin and VSM Venini both produced various glass types, including but not limited to, transparent, incamiciato, filigrane, and others. Separately, MVM Cappellin also produced pasta vitrea glass and VSM Venini produced pulegoso glass.
On top of glass décor types, signatures and acid stamps can come into play when differentiating the works of each company, though as a general statement the majority was not signed. VSM Cappellin Venini & C. did not have an acid stamp or signature of any kind, so any Vittorio Zecchin-designed piece for that company that is signed was actually produced later and by another company entirely. After Cappellin and Venini split and opened their own respective glassworks, each adopted an acid stamp in order to differentiate themselves from the other. MVM Cappellin & C. had an acid stamp <MVM Cappellin Murano> and VSM Venini & C. had an acid stamp <venini murano>, though neither was consistently used in the initial years. This is evidenced by looking in publications, most notably the works titled Vittorio Zecchin Transparent Glass For Cappellin and Venini, The M.V.M. Cappellin Glassworks and The Young Carlo Scarpa 1925-1931, and Napoleone Martinuzzi Venini 1925-1931, all edited by Marino Barovier and Carla Sonego (first two books listed). In these publications, there are numerous modern photographs of glass articles corresponding to original factory drawings with signatures noted in the captions, and a very large percentage of these glass pieces are unsigned. So, even if, in theory, MVM Cappellin and VSM Venini production should be signed, it was done so infrequently and in such a random manner that it is understood by collectors today that most production was not marked. Please, do not accept the incorrect sentiments of novice and ignorant collectors who say if it’s not signed, it’s not real. That is preposterous and easily proven wrong by simply opening the aforementioned titles. When examining a glass object, it should be judged by its design attributes, glass décor type, flaws present in the glass, and manner in which it was finished, not strictly by its signature or lack thereof. I hope this brief discussion helps to untangle the histories of these famous individuals and companies.
A brief timeline:
- V.S.M. Cappellin Venini & Company
- Active: mid/late 1921-May 1925
- Founded by Giacomo Cappellin and Paolo Venini
- Artistic Director: Vittorio Zecchin
- M.V.M. Cappellin & Company
- Active: June 1925-January 1932
- Founded by Giacomo Cappellin
- Artistic Directors:
- Vittorio Zecchin: June 1925-October 1926
- Carlo Scarpa: October 1926-January 1932
- Was involved in drafting and designing for MVM Cappellin prior to assuming the Artistic Director role.
- V.S.M. Venini & Company
- Active: June 1925-January 1932
- Founded by Paolo Venini
- Artistic Director: Napoleone Martinuzzi: June 1925-January 1932
- Venini still exists today, but for the purposes of this article I have chosen to end the discussion here.
References:
-Barovier, M., & Sonego, C. (2017). Vittorio Zecchin: Transparent Glass for Cappellin and Venini. Skira.
-Barovier, M., & Sonego, C. (2018). The M.V.M. Cappellin Glassworks and the Young Carlo Scarpa: 1925-1931. Skira.
-Barovier, M. (2013). Napoleone Martinuzzi: Venini 1925-1931. Skira.