BABA Books
Contemporary Work
I Maestri Italaliani Del Ferro Battuto
By Guiseppe Ciscato
BABA member price £83
Non-member price £115
This is a huge book with almost 500 pages. It features the work of over 60 contemporary Italian artist blacksmiths, completed before the book's publication 1998. The biggest section of the book is a catalogue of their work, divided into chapters according to function. Chapters include a large section on sculpture, both large and small, sacred art and 'funeral art', architectural work, including forged canopies and door grills, a few beds, forged electric light holders for outdoor as well as indoor, forged flowers and floral arrangements, door furniture, in fact everything that artist blacksmiths can forge. Each page is full of colour photographs of finished and installed pieces; work in progress and artists sketches are also included. All the captions are in Italian.
The second, smaller section has short biographies of the artists, supported by further black and white photographs of their work. The biographies are translated into English.
This book reflects the cultural and climatic differences that have influenced the artists living and working in Italy, so many of the pieces are very different to those made by English and American artist blacksmiths.