Museo Correr

Museo Correr

EMANUELE LUZZATI. Marco Polo’s Il Milione.

Emanuele Luzzati

Emanuele Luzzati born in Genoa in 1921. Takes his diploma at the Lausanne Ecole des Beaux Arts. Painter, decorator, illustrator and ceramicist, he also works on set and costume design for the theatre; later, with Giulio Gianini, he will work on film cartoons. A career total of around five hundred set designs for theatre, opera and dance in major theatres in Italy and abroad; numerous illustrations for children’s books. Luzzati produces the decorative panels, embossed work and tapestries for various cruise ships : the ‘Andrea Doria’, the ‘Leonardo da Vinci’, the ‘Michelangelo’, the ‘Ausonia’ and the ‘Marco Polo’. From 1981 to 1984 an exhibition of his work – “The Magical Stage Curtain”- travels around Italy and abroad, having first been held at Rome University. He exhibits at the Experimental Graphics section of the 1972 Venice Biennale. In 1988 Luzzati does the illustrations for a special presentation edition of some of Grimms’ fairytales (Le Fiabe scelte), which is published by Olivetti. In March 1990, the four sections of a comprehensive exhibition dedicated to Luzzati’s work open at Reggio Emilia, Cavriago, Sant’Ilario and Montecchio. Luzzati is a member of the AGI (Alliance Graphique Internationale) and of the Motion Picture Academy, having won two nominations for his animation films La gazza ladra and Pulcinella. In 1989 he produces the illustrations for an edition of Voltaire’s Candide, published by Nuages. In 1992 he receives an honorary degree in Architecture from the University of Genoa. In 1993 the Union of European Theatres organises an exhibition Emanuele Luzzati set designer, the first venue for which is the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. In November 1995 he receives the Ubu Award for the best set designs of the year – for the production of Pinocchio put on at the Teatro della Tosse in Genoa, which had been founded in 1975 by Luzzati himself, together with Tonino Conte and Aldo Trionfo. In 1996 he produces the illustrations for an edition of Pinocchio published by Nuages. In December 1996 a retrospective of his work opens at the Ducal Palace in Genoa. For Christmas 1997 the City Council of Turin commissions him to ‘decorate’ the Porta Nuova railway station, and create a large Crib in the gardens in front of it. The following year Luzzati designs a play park for children, inspired by Mozart’s The Magic Flute. In 1998 he produces the illustrations for an edition of Alice in Wonderland, published by Nuages. In 1999 Luzzati designs the production of The Barber of Seville at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. In December 2000 a space dedicated to the work of Emanuele Luzzati is inaugurated in the Porta Siberia structure of Genoa’s Old Port, being de-developed to designs by the Renzo Piano Architectural Studio. In 2001 Luzzati produces the illustrations for a selection of tales from The Decameron, published by Nuages. In 2002, again for Nuages, he illustrates a second volume of stories from The Decameron and the book of fairystories Animali Sapienti by Giorgio Matteotti. In 2004 he produces the illustrations for Peter Pan, and – in 2005 – for Il Corsaro di Ventimiglia and Il Milione.