Teonesto Deabate Biography
Teonesto Deabate was born in Turin in 1898 and after graduating from technical schools, he completed his training at the Regia Accademia Albertina in Turin. Having returned from the First World War, the painter, decorator, set designer and writer began his career as a ceramist in 1921 at the "Galvani" factory in Pordenone. Since 1922 he has participated in the exhibitions of the Turin Promoter of Fine Arts. Since 1923 he has been artistic director of the "Vittoria" ceramic factory in Mondovì while continuing his collaboration with "Galvani". In the same year some of his works were exhibited at the First Biennial of Decorative Arts in Monza. From 1925/26 he also began to deal with scenography. In 1925 he left "Galvani" and took charge exclusively of "Victoria", leading it to achieve good commercial success. In 1927 he exhibited some of his works at the Triennele d'Arte in Monza and at the Mostra dell'Artigianato in Florence. A friend of Gigi Chessa, in 1928 he began his collaboration, as a modeller, with the Turin factory "Lenci" for which he created ceramics, which were exhibited at the exhibition at the Pesaro Gallery in Milan, and designed models of clothes for dolls. Starting from the end of the twenties he also dedicated himself to teaching as a teacher at the Higher School of Architecture in Turin, a position he held until 1970. In 1930 he collaborated, with Massimo Quaglino and Giulio Da Milano, on the installation of the "Sala dei due sergeants" at the Triennale of Decorative Art in Monza. In the same year he left "Lenci" and moved to a textile factory in Zoagli, in the province of Genoa. He took part in the Venice Art Biennials of 1936 and 1938 and the following year he was invited to exhibit some of his works in New York. After the Second World War he dedicated himself mainly to painting. He died in Turin in 1981.
