Mario Mirko Vucetich was born in 1898 in Bologna, where his father was a railway official, and completed his first studies in that city; His education continued in Naples following the transfer of the head of the family, where in 1917 he obtained the title of Professor of Architectural Drawing at the Academy of Fine Arts.
In June 1919 he was hired as an architect by the Municipality of Gorizia.
In that city he approached Futurism, forming, in October 1919 together with Pocarini, the "Giuliano Futurist Movement", whose programmatic manifesto was published in "L'Eco dell'Isonzo" and in "Futurist Rome".
As an architect in 1920 he worked at the Ministry Terre Liberate based in Vittorio Veneto and the following year, after the dissolution of the institution, he began his freelance profession in Bologna and Venice and then in Rome, where he moved in 1922.
In 1923 he was in Rome, winner of the National Artistic Pension for Emilia in the Decoration section and, two years later, of the Architecture section. In recent years he designed and built buildings with innovative compositional characteristics exemplified in the beautiful Villa Antolini in Riccione in Bologna, Venice and Riccione.
After winning the Curlandese competition of the Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna in 1928 by developing the theme of a "Pavilion for Colonial Exhibition".
In May 1929 he moved to the United States, residing in New York, where he worked as a sculptor (his works are preserved in the Brooklyn Museum), interior designer, architect and set designer, in 1930 also collaborating as assistant director with Henry Dreyfuss at Forhtysecond Street Theater and, in 1931, with the same duties at the Roxy Theatre.
In 1932, upon returning to Italy, he settled in Rome, where he continued his multifaceted activity, sometimes participating as an actor, others as a set designer, costume designer or director in around a hundred shows put on by the best companies of the time.
From 1935 to 1950 his presence at Villa Strohl – Fern is documented, even if he was absent there several times, for example when, after the outbreak of the Second World War, he went to Siena to work at the Accademia Chigiana, creating the San Francesco for the church of the same name and San Bernardino for the Basilica dell'Osservanza, two large statues larger than life, as he had promised his friend Count Chigi Serafini.
Subsequently he goes to Vicenza where he permanently establishes his residence accompanied by Lara Breganze.
Mario Mirko Vucetich was born in 1898 in Bologna, where his father was a railway official, and completed his first studies in that city; His education continued in Naples following the transfer of the head of the family, where in 1917 he obtained the title of Professor of Architectural Drawing at the Academy of Fine Arts.
The Marostica Chess Game
In 1954 he conceived and wrote the theatrical text of The Chess Game for the medieval square of Marostica (Vicenza).
Vucetich puts his creativity into play entirely, trying his hand not only at directing and scenography, but also as a costume designer, weapons blacksmith and musician, managing to give an extraordinary physiognomy to a comp
On the other hand, the artist's versatility is also manifested on other occasions: registered with the order of journalists since 1950, he collaborates with various newspapers; translator from French (ancient and modern) for Rizzoli, from Spanish and English, critic, playwright and poet, he also dedicated himself to illustration, creating the 25 woodcuts of Carlo Emilio Gadda's The First Book of Fables in 1952.
Vucetich worked as an illustrator for the Neri Pozza publishing house.
Vucetich's interest in history and his commitment to keeping its teaching alive, as a free spirit, not a member of any party, but as a gentle and generous man are demonstrated by his activity as a writer; in fact, the poem "De profundis di Buchenwald" dates back to 1968, which in the subtitle contains the dedication "to the former internees and to six million Jews". He died in Vicenza on 6 March 1975.
Christ (1964) by Mario Mirko VucetichItalia Liberty
The Vicenza count Franco Tomaso was a friend and magnate for Vucetich who often purchased works by the artist, creating the only large archive on the author.
NOTES ON THE ART OF MIRKO VUCETICH
Andrea Speziali proposes meritorious work, which traces the stages of the multiform production of Mirko Vucetich, an artist of great creative flexibility and capable of originally declining past and contemporary artistic styles and trends, starting with Futurism and also Italian Sarfattiano Novecento, as well as that certain echoes of Hellenic archaism, Etruscan clay art, the fifteenth century, the eighteenth century, just to give some examples.At least to me his works refer in certain cases to these references, to which I would add as regards sculpture suggestions by Arturo Martini and Libero Andreotti, as regards architecture Antonio Sant'Elia and Virgilio Marchi, not to mention the strong attraction that Vucetich he had for the fifteenth century, as attested by the Chess Game of Marostica, and not only for the costumes of the "living characters" who practiced it, because for it he even came to create historical false documents, taking advantage of pages torn from a volume ancient. Moreover, even in his painting the fifteenth century sometimes (and I think of the oil on paper study for the votive temple of San Gaetano in Terranegra of 1958-59) resurfaces with similar results, to put it with Giorgio Vasari, to those of the "manner a cutting edge and sometimes pulling more on stone than on live meat ", typical of Mantegna.
The national cultural association ITALIA LIBERTY thanks the authors of the texts: Andrea Speziali and Giorgio Di Genova.
www.italialiberty.it
Bibliography:
Andrea Speziali, "Mario Mirko Vucetich (1898 - 1975). Architecture, sculpture, painting, drawing", editorial Silvana, Cinisello Balsamo 2020.
Andrea Spezial, "A Liberty Season in Riccione", Maggioli publisher, 2010.
Andrea Spezial, "Romagna Liberty", Maggioli publisher, 2012
“Artists at Villa Strohl-Fern. Place of art and meetings in Rome between 1880 and 1956 ", edited by Giovanna De Feo, Gangemi, Rome 2012.
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