‘Alchemy Ginori 1737-1896. Art and technique in manufacturing

Through a wide selection of works and artefacts from the collections of the Ginori Museum and Mic Faenza, the curators Oliva Rucellai and Rita Balleri stage the dialectic between creativity and the limits imposed by the material, between aesthetic research and scientific progress, between tradition and the mutability of the client’s taste.

“Often, behind a certain mixture, the color of a background or a particular shape that today appear obvious to us – says Oliva Rucellai, head curator of the Ginori Museum – there are discoveries, inventions, research and failures of which we are not aware. This exhibition is an invitation to read the history of the Ginori Manufacture also through these conquests”.

The story begins in the first half of the eighteenth century, when Carlo Ginori, passionate about chemistry, founded the factory of the same name and personally dedicated himself to researching the recipe for porcelain mixture.

The route then winds through various sections dedicated to porcelain sculptures; to the progressive enrichment of the pictorial decoration and the chromatic palette; to the innovations of Carlo Leopoldo Ginori (inventor of the four-story kiln), of Giusto Giusti (the chemist of the factory who rediscovered the recipe for the luster of ancient Renaissance majolica) and of the first artistic directors of the factory.

The exhibition ends with Ginori’s transition to a real industry and with a look towards the 20th century, when the newly founded Richard-Ginori based much of its prosperity on the production of electrotechnical porcelain, usually not exhibited in museum settings.

With this exhibition the Mic Faenza once again pays homage to the richness of the collections of the Ginori Museum (currently closed to the public due to the renovation of its headquarters in Sesto Fiorentino), in continuity with the collaboration started on the occasion of the Gio Ponti – Ceramiche exhibition, hosted in Faenza from 17 March to 13 October 2024.

“This exhibition is part of a program of our Museum to valorise the Italian manufactures that have made the history of Italian ceramics. – continues the director of Mic Faenza Claudia Casali – Ginori is synonymous with elegance but also with research, technique and technology. This exhibition is an extraordinary opportunity to see sculptural groups such as Cupid and Psyche of exceptional importance in Ginori’s production brought together, a unique event that is difficult to repeat”. From February 7th, every Saturday at 4pm, guided tour included in the ticket price.