Serafino Mattucci Biography
Serafino Vetellio Mattucci, painter and ceramist born in Philadelphia, United States in 1912, moved to Italy in 1926 and attended the Royal School of Art of Castelli. He subsequently enrolled at the School of Art in Faenza, where he studied under the guidance of Anselmo Bucci and Domenico Rambelli, and then completed his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna, with the maestro Giorgio Morandi. In 1943 he returned to Castelli where he began his career as a teacher and began producing ceramics of great interest, initially inspired by the archaic period and later by abstractionism. Starting from the post-World War II years he participated in all editions of the Faenza National Ceramics Competition, until 1958. In 1951 he presented five ceramic works at the Milan Triennale, where he met Giò Ponti with whom he collaborated for over a decade. He took part in the Triennale again in 1954, 1957 and 1960. In 1955 he won the Ente Fiera di Vicenza prize. From 1958 he took over the direction of the Grue Art Institute in Castelli, holding the position until 1977. In the following years he dedicated himself mainly to teaching and in 1962 the Institute received a prize at the National Competition in Lodi. In 1970, together with his students, he created a nativity scene which was set up at the Mercati Traianei in Rome and which in the following years was exhibited in various Israeli cities. In 1987 he participated in a collective of ceramists at the Galleria de' Serpenti in Rome and in the nineties he received the "Golden Paliotto" lifetime achievement award. In 2000, an anthological exhibition dedicated to him was organized, curated by Leo Strozzieri. Serafino Matteucci died in Roseto degli Abruzzi in 2004.
