20th-century romantic hero

Rovereto MART presents an exhibition at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia of the multifaceted Riccardo Schweizer: researcher, painter and designer.

It is the 54th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale and, as I cross the bridge to the main entrance of the Fondazione Querini Stampalia, I bear with me the memories of Barbara Schweizer, daughter of the painter, designer, traveller, photographer and writer Riccardo Schweizer (1925–2004), renowned as a romantic figure with a contemporary heart.

His world was that of the mid-20th century. Originally from Mezzano di Primiero, in the province of Trento, Schweizer retained close ties with his homeland as he arrived to study at the Accademia in Venice, became Bruno Saetti's assistant and cultivated a passion for aesthetics and research. Ever eager for knowledge, he wrote "Art is freedom. Freedom from schemes. Research in unexplored worlds. Everything has been accomplished in art. Everything is still to be accomplished in art. I am interested in everything concerning image, art history, even the art which is not considered history. Nothing is devoid of interest except for what is done due to some interest."
<i>Cubo Bibita [Drink Cube]</i> set of pitchers and glasses
Cubo Bibita [Drink Cube] set of pitchers and glasses
Driven by his passion for the French and the work being produced by Picasso, Chagall, Cocteau and Le Corbusier in the middle of the last century, he set off for the Côte d'Azur and its cultural fervour where, as he himself wrote, he sought out his masters to meet them in person. "I was familiar with the studio of Picasso, at Vallarius: address—Rue des Potiers—because I have attended it for a long time, since 1950. I used to go there without the practical purposes the others had, "Um nicht zu suchen" Göethe would say", wrote Schweizer.
Riccardo Schweizer, <i>Senza titolo [Untitled]</i>
Riccardo Schweizer, Senza titolo [Untitled]
MART in Rovereto is holding an exhibition on the versatile figure of Roberto Schweizer, a researcher, painter and designer (this latter practice came later, in the 1970s, following invitations from companies), at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice. Centred on an idea put forward by Barbara Schweizer, it is curated by Elisabetta Barisoni and promoted by the Provincia Autonoma di Trento. The exhibition contains projects, photographs, paintings and writings on a route that begins with small sculptures and winds around Carlo Scarpa's beautiful interiors. Organically shaped works in terracotta hand-painted on the Côte d'Azur and dated 1957 are flanked by concrete and coloured oxide sculptures featuring a special bas-relief technique he developed himself in the 1980s to fix colour. Schweizer painted out of passion, it was his life. He even painted faces on red bricks and used pieces of rubber to complete his pictures in the late 1970s. Painting was a passionate expression that Schweizer never abandoned to the day he died and this exhibition includes numerous examples, including his Picasso-like paintings of the 1950s, mainly with nude female subjects.
When painting, he was anxious to fill every square centimetre, round things off and draw sinuous lines but then, when designing, he pursued geometry and pure technique, regular masses, function first and foremost, optimum energy and space—albeit with flashes of colour.
<i>Giulietta e Romeo</i>, set of dishes for two
Giulietta e Romeo, set of dishes for two
A glass case contains a rounded Murano blown-glass piece—an object with clear aesthetic worth consisting in two separate vases that fit together with an egg acting as a stopper in the middle. His approach to glass offers the first hints of a later Schweizer become designer, "My father was interested in all aesthetic forms but when he was designing he focused only on the technical and functional aspects", stresses his daughter Barbara. "He had dabbled in design but then, in the late 1970s, Pagnosin asked him to work with them and he found he had a huge interest in everyday objects", adds Barbara.
Riccardo Schweizer, ideas for the walls of an underground way in Cannes
Riccardo Schweizer, ideas for the walls of an underground way in Cannes
As well as his famous interior designs—from the tables for two to the outside walls and even a complicated but functional spit grill for the famous Ristorante da Silvio in San Michele all'Adige in the province of Trento in 1978 and his decoration for the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes—the exhibition contains tracing-paper sketches, numerous black and white pictures of Schweizer and his wife's social life in France and also the diaries that he would fill with torrents of words, "My father absolutely loved writing. They are mostly troubled love stories dating from his youth, before he met my mother. She brought a sense of both emotional and professional stability to his life."
Riccardo Schweizer, <i>Figura con fondo rosso</i>
Riccardo Schweizer, Figura con fondo rosso
Schweizer's "romanticism" does not only appear in his departure in search of meaningful painters and poets but also in his focus on the couple and the relationship between two people—a clear component in his furnishings for the Ristorante da Silvio. Fitting perfectly together, his design objects have an erotic charge that can be traced back to his early paintings. Although Schweizer the painter adopted a totally different approach from Schweizer the designer, certain elements, values and symbols recurred over the years and, indeed, throughout his career. When painting, he was anxious to fill every square centimetre, round things off and draw sinuous lines but then, when designing, he pursued geometry and pure technique, regular masses, function first and foremost, optimum energy and space—albeit with flashes of colour. This painstaking quest can be seen in several objects such as Giulietta e Romeo,, a table setting that fits together in a ball, seemingly another reference to the sphere of emotions; the Cubo Bibita, a multicoloured set of glasses as precise as a chessboard and the Zangola cruet stand, named after the device used in the mountains to churn milk and make butter, a clear reference to Schweizer's Alpine origins.
<i>Portaspezie [Churn]</i> cruet
Portaspezie [Churn] cruet
The dichotomy of artist and technician present in one person with a distinguished experience remains firm. It appears in his diaries, narrated experiences and dreams in the first part of his hectic Bohemian life and then reappears in the second part, given over to love for his wife and translated into exact designs.

When asked the direct question, "Do you see more of your father in the painter or in the designer?" his daughter Barbara replies, "l mostly remember him with the temperament of the designer, despite never having studied architecture. But I grew up with his paintings and they have always been a part of our lives."
Maria Cristina Didero
Riccardo Schweizer, <i>Val Noana</i>
Riccardo Schweizer, Val Noana

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