Claudio Pulli Biography
Claudio Pulli became acquainted with art in a family environment, being the son of the sculptor and decorator Giovanni (Lecce, 1892 – Selargius, Cagliari, 1976). The father trained in Lecce, the family's city of origin, working in the workshop of the sculptor Luigi Guacci. Following a commission, Giovanni arrived in Sassari in 1929 and moved there with his family: at the time he had three children. Giovanni Pulli opened his art workshop in the city in 1929, in Corso Vittorio Emanuele at number 89, and for nine years he was in charge of teaching ceramics at the Art Institute of Sassari. Claudio studied at the Art Institute of Sassari and was taught by masters such as Stanis Dessy, Filippo Figari and Eugenio Tavolara. The skills of the young Claudio, already well established by the "family" apprenticeship that he was able to complete while in his father's laboratory, were directed by the teachings of his teachers at the Art Institute (he was skilled in sculpture and painting). Pulli was noticed by Tavolara, who invited him to further improve himself by looking at the Italian panorama. Thus, having obtained his diploma as Master of Art in Sassari, Claudio Pulli went to Faenza, the great center of Italian ceramics, and perfected himself: his great love was terracotta, being truly gifted in shaping and decorating it. In 1955 he married Graziella Doro, the love of a lifetime who saw the birth of Giovanni (1956) and Roberto (1961) who accompanied Claudio in his works and still pass on the secrets of this ancient art today. Pulli learned the various ceramic techniques from the Faenza masters (such as lead coating, tin enamel, glazing, engobe) and carried out many experiments, curious and anxious to obtain new effects of the material that he could enhance artistically. Shy and introverted in character, Pulli was a practical, direct, but secluded man and artist: he loved his work very much, the culture of doing was his own. In his artistic career he participated in many exhibitions, also winning important prizes and obtaining numerous recognitions, in Italy and abroad. Among the exhibitions it is worth mentioning “Sassari in Bottiglia”, born from an idea of the Sassari decorator Settimio Sassu (Sassari, 1918 – second half of the 20th century) and which was made up of glass bottles of various shapes on which the caricatures were modeled of important figures from the world of culture, entertainment and politics of post-war Sassari: the character's body was the glass container while the heads were shaped by Sassu, Pulli and the then very young Gian Carlo Marchisio, as a collaborator. Important exhibitions for Pulli were the 1970 edition of the Sardinia Trade Fair held in Cagliari and a solo exhibition that he was able to organize years later in Tokyo. He was also able to exhibit in Faenza with a solo show at the Civic Museum of Ceramics. From the early Seventies he opened his ceramic workshop in Selargius, near Cagliari, where for decades he produced his series and unique pieces, inspired by Sardinia and its archaic craftsmanship but also creating refined contemporary design objects. Sensitive as a man, introspective and lover of quiet, he also produced works of sacred art: in various churches in the province of Cagliari one can admire his Stations of the Cross, or his paintings or statues.
