Giustini / Stagetti

Born on the Island of Murano (Venice) on May 31, 1892 to a non-native family and therefore unable to undertake a career as a master glassmaker, Napoleone Martinuzzi began his training as a sculptor in the very early years of the twentieth century, first in various ceramic and terracotta workshops, then at the Scuola del Nudo of the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice. The interest in the volumetric rendering of forms, his natural vocation, will be a recurring and distinctive trait throughout his career, even in the glass design sector. On the influence exerted by sculpture on Martinuzzi's vast glass production, Gabriele d'Annunzio wrote that "with the same soul of art he shapes glass and marble, [...] with the same fire he treats glass and bronze". Having met for the first time in April 1917, the Poet established a solid and lasting relationship of mutual respect with Martinuzzi that materialized in commissions for sculptures and glass works for some rooms of the Vittoriale. In fact, for the Poet, Martinuzzi designed several stained glass windows, chandeliers, glass sets and table furnishings, the famous pumpkin-lamps for the Music Room (1928), a glass bestiary, a series of colorful glass fruits (1926-27).

From 1922 to 1931, appointed by the Municipality of Murano, Martinuzzi directed its Glass Museum, where he had the opportunity to study classical objects in depth and draw inspiration from them.

From 1923, he was busy as a sculptor in the design of the Monumento dei Caduti of Murano.

The year 1925 marked an important turning point in his career. He was first involved in the establishment of the S.A.V.A.S. (Società in Accomandita Vetro Artistico Soffiato) furnace together with his friend, the engineer Francesco Zecchin. Subsequently, he entered into a partnership with the Milanese lawyer Paolo Venini, taking on the artistic direction of the new glassworks V.S.M. Venini & C. The latter one had recently been established after the recession of the antique dealer Giacomo Cappellin from the previous and already established joint firm (V.S.M. Cappellin Venini & C.).

This partnership with Venini would last until 1931.

At first, Martinuzzi's production remained faithful to the approach given to the company by Vittorio Zecchin, father of his partner Francesco: mostly transparent blown glass had been produced, drawn from the elegant Renaissance repertoire. However, he soon developed his own personal sculptoral language, characterized by constant experimentation and interest in the plasticity and polychromy of objects taken from real life: flowers, animals, plants, human figures.

He participated in numerous Italian and International Art Exhibitions. In 1926, he took part in the XV Venice Art Biennale. In 1927, he took part in the II Mostra d’Arte Marinara in Rome and the III Monza Biennale. At the XVI Venice Art Biennale, in 1928, Martinuzzi presented the first “pulegosi” glasses - so called because they have dense bubbles (“puleghe”, in Venetian dialect), which were obtained by adding sodium bicarbonate or petroleum in the incandescent glass mass - a bestiary that aroused the interest of Gio Ponti, who from that moment dedicated numerous articles and inserts in Domus to Martinuzzi’s pieces and to the entire Vetreria. In 1929, he took part in the International Art Exhibition in Barcelona, ​​where he presented a review of filigrana glass. In 1930 he took part in the XVII Venice Art Biennale and the IV Monza Triennale, where he exhibited the series of Succulent Plants, first published in the magazine Domus in February 1929, the Aquariums - transparent glass vases with polychrome glass figures inside, designed to be filled with water - and the Vase with ten handles, later included in d'Annunzio's collection. In 1931 he took part in the I Quadriennale d'Arte Nazionale at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome.

He created several glass furnishing elements for the Palazzo delle Poste in Ferrara and the Palazzo delle Poste in Bergamo, inaugurated in 1930 and 1932 respectively.

After leaving V.S.M. Venini & C., in 1932 Martinuzzi founded Zecchin-Martinuzzi Vetri Artistici e Mosaici together with Francesco Zecchin. In 1934 and 1936, he participated in the XIX and XX Venice Art Biennale.

In 1936, he left the company to devote himself to sculpture.

Martinuzzi died in Venice on May 15, 1977.