Plate with a broad rim made by Mario Mascarin; in private ownership
Mario Mascarin (born 17th May 1901 in Rivarolo Ligure – died 19th June 1966 in Muttenz) was an important ceramicist of Italian origin. His ceramics and his special courses for professionals at the School of Applied Arts in Zurich (1951-1953) as well as his participation in various exhibitions in Switzerland and abroad had an influence on the works of numerous Swiss ceramicists (Geiger 1967).
The following brief timeline was taken from various digital sources (Miriam Baumeister) and publications that contain information about his life and work (Baeriswyl-Descloux 2007; Barten 1998; Filliol/Lambercy/Schnyder et al. 2006, as well as the website: https://mascarin.ch/).
1901 Mario Mascarin is born in Rivarolo Ligure (Italy) and spends his youth in Venice.
From 1920 until 1923 he trains as an accountant and serves with the military.
1924/25: Studies in Vienna and works as a journalist.
1926: First encounter with pottery at a manufactory in Nove di Bassano in Italy.
1927/28: Art critic and journalist in the Ticino region.
1929-1932: Special correspondent in Norway, followed by a period of exile and an apprenticeship as a ceramicist at a small potter’s workshop there.
1932: Return to the Ticino to work as an art critic.
1936-1940: Freelance potter for the Waidberg workshop in Zurich.
From 1940 until 1943: Head of the studio pottery department at the tileworks in Thayngen, where he meets the Swiss ceramicists Edouard Chapallaz and Philippe Lambercy.
1944-1946: Operations manager of the company Paul Eisen-Picard (Peba) in Basel. The company can be found in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce from 1919 until 1954.
1946-1966: Runs his own ceramic studio in Muttenz.
1951-1953: Offers special courses for professionals at the School of Applied Arts in Zurich.
1959: Founding member of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Schweizer Keramik (ASK) (Swiss Ceramics Association).
Five plates (1950-1966), marked, from the Mascarin workshop; private collection
Mario Mascarin is considered one of the pioneers of Swiss stoneware and a trailblazer in high-temperature glazing techniques. From 1955 to 1965, he exhibited his works at numerous individual and group exhibitions in Switzerland and abroad (list in Filliol/Lambercy/Schnyder et al. 2006, 7), culminating in a large exhibition of Swiss pottery at the Helmhaus Museum in Zurich in 1965 (Schnyder 1966). In 2006, some of the ceramic collection in the family estate was put on display as part of a special exhibition (Filliol/Lambercy/Schnyder u.a. 2006). Some of his pieces were shown at an exhibition entitled “Von der Ziegelfabrik Hofen zum Tonwerk Thayngen” (From the Hofen Tile Factory to the Thayngen Ceramic Works) in Thayngen in 2017 (Schiendorfer 2017).
Ceramics by Mario Mascarin in the collections of the Swiss National Museum in Zurich and the Musée Ariana in Geneva. Some of his ceramics are also housed at the Museum of Design in Zurich.
Translation Sandy Haemmerle
References:
Baeriswyl-Descloux 2007
Baeriswyl-Descloux, Michèle: Mascarin, Mario. In: Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz.
Barten 1998
Sigrid Barten, Mario Mascarin, in: Cerâmica da Suìça do Renascimento aos nossos dias. Ceramics from Switzerland from Renaissance until the Present. Museu Nacional do Azulejo, Lissabon 1998, 160-165.
Filliol/Lambercy/Schnyder u.a. 2006
Claude Filliol/Philippe Lambercy/Rudolf Schnyder u.a., Mario Mascarin – La Ceramica, Riehen 2006.
Geiger 1967
Benno Geiger, Erinnerungen an Mario Mascarin, in: Schweizer Keramik 3, Januar 1967.
Schiendorfer 2017
Andreas Schiendorfer, Thayngens Beitrag zu moderner Kunstkeramik, in: Thaynger Anzeiger, 5. Dezember 2017.
Schnyder 1966
Rudolf Schnyder, Schweizer Keramik der Gegenwart, in: Keramikfreunde der Schweiz Mitteilungsblatt 69, 1966, 3-8.
