claudio pulli - claudio pulli - Lidded vase - ceramics - Ceramic

Vaso di Claudio Pulli in ceramica smaltata policroma e con lustri metallici

Altezza: 16 cm

Claudio Pulli knew Art in a family environment, being the son of the sculptor and decorator Giovanni (Lecce, 1892 – Selargius, Cagliari, 1976). His father trained in Lecce, the family’s hometown, working in the workshop of the sculptor Luigi Guacci. Following a commission, Giovanni arrived in Sassari in 1929 and moved there with the family: at the time he had three children. Giovanni Pulli opened in the same year 1929 his art workshop in the city, on Corso Vittorio Emanuele at number 89, and for nine years he had the responsibility of teaching ceramics at the Istituto d'Arte di Sassari. Claudio studied at the Istituto d’Arte di Sassari and had teachers such as Masters Stanis Dessy, Filippo Figari, and Eugenio Tavolara. The abilities of the young Claudio, already well formed by the family apprenticeship he could carry out in the father’s workshop, were directed by the teachings of his masters at the Institute of Art (he was skilled in sculpture and painting). Pulli was noticed by Tavolara, who invited him to further perfect himself by looking at the Italian panorama. Thus, after obtaining the diploma of Maestro d'Arte in Sassari, Claudio Pulli went to Faenza, a major center of Italian ceramics, and perfected himself: his great love was terracotta, being truly inclined to 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 today pass on the secrets of this ancient art.

From the Faenza masters he learned the various ceramic techniques (such as lead glazing, tin glaze, enameling, engobe) and carried out many experiments, curious and eager to obtain new effects of the material to artistically enhance. Shy and introverted in character, Pulli was a practical, direct, yet withdrawn man and artist: he loved his work very much, the culture of making was his own. In his artistic career he participated in many exhibitions, winning important prizes and receiving numerous recognitions, in Italy and abroad. Among the exhibitions it is worth recalling “Sassari in Bottiglia,” born from an idea of the Sassari decorator Settimio Sassu (Sassari, 1918 – second half of the 20th century) and which consisted of glass bottles of various shapes on which caricatures of important figures from the world of culture, show business, and politics of postwar Sassari were formed: the body of the character was the glass container while the heads were shaped by Sassu, by Pulli and by the then very young Gian Carlo Marchisio, as collaborator.

Important exhibitions for Pulli were the 1970 edition of the Sardinia Trade Fair held in Cagliari and a solo show that he later organized in Tokyo. He could also exhibit in Faenza with a solo show at the Museo Civico della Ceramica. From the early 1970s he opened his ceramic workshop in Selargius, near Cagliari, where he produced for decades his series and his unique pieces, inspired by Sardinia and its archaic crafts but also creating refined contemporary design objects. Sensitive as a man, introspective and fond of quiet, he also produced works of sacred art: in several churches in the province of Cagliari one can admire his Stations of the Cross, or his paintings or statues.