Oscar Zanetti was born in 1961 into one of the historic families of Murano. His family was one of the first to move to Murano from Venice, when at the end of the 13th century, it was decided to relocate all the furnaces to the island for safety reasons. The coat-of-arms of the Zanetti family – representing a fox and a snake – may be seen in the frieze on the Glass Museum, an institution that owes its foundation in 1861 to a member of the Zanetti family.
Oscar Zanetti was born in 1961 into one of the historic families of Murano. His family was one of the first to move to Murano from Venice, when at the end of the 13th century, it was decided to relocate all the furnaces to the island for safety reasons. The coat-of-arms of the Zanetti family – representing a fox and a snake – may be seen in the frieze on the Glass Museum, an institution that owes its foundation in 1861 to a member of the Zanetti family. The abbot, Vincenzo Zanetti, devoted his efforts to sustain and promote the art of glass and founded the School of Glass in 1862.
Both Oscar’s father and grandfather were Glass masters. Oscar’s grandfather, after whom he was named, was a Glassmaster for Venini and opened his own furnace in 1956, on the Fondamenta Vetrai with his son Licio, Oscar’s father. Licio had worked for Venini, Cenedese and Alfrdo Barbini and soom became an artist renowned for his creations and for his collaboration with famous artists such as aul Goldoni, Enso Scarpa and Libero Vitali.
Oscar took a job at a metal working studio at age 12 and quickly developed a skill for the profession. He began at the entry level of ‘garzone’ and simultaneously was invited to act as ‘servente’. Within 2 years he had acquired a remarkable level of expertise and it was then, in the early eighties, that his father Licio summoned Oscar to work with him and this represented a new beginning. It meant a change from blown glass to solid glass – which is still the distinctive characteristic of the production by Zanetti – where the glass to be gathered weighed ten times more, where a different technique was required and, what’s more, there was a relationship to be built with his father. Within 6 years, 1989, that Oscar became a maestro, with his own piazza and his own assistants. But in this profession, he often repeats, ‘you never stop learning.’
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Like Norman Rockwell, Seuss personally created every rough sketch, preliminary drawing, final line drawing and finished work for each page of every project he illustrated. Despite the technical and budgetary limitations of color printing during the early and mid-twentieth century, Dr. Seuss the artist was meticulous about color selection. He created specially numbered color charts and elaborate color call-outs to precisely accomplish his vision for each book. Saturated reds and blues, for example, were carefully chosen for The Cat in the Hat to attract and maintain the visual attention of a six-year-old audience. By the time Seuss’s book career took off, sharp draftsman skills were evident in drawings. His ability to move a storyline ahead via illustrations filled with tension, movement and color became a hallmark component of his work, and the surreal images that unfolded over six decades became the catalyst for a humorous and inspired learning experience.
Artist Leo Rijn, the inaugural sculptor for the Dr. Seuss Tribute Collection I, was selected to launch this project due to his prized work with some of today’s top talent in the world of film, entertainment and the visual arts (including Tim Burton, Ang Lee and Steven Spielberg). Rijn has been identified as one of today’s brightest sculpting talents because of his ability to breathe life into the written word and successfully transform two-dimensional ideas into three-dimensional works of art. Universal Studios commissioned Leo to develop and oversee the creation of numerous maquette scale models for the Monumental Dr. Seuss Sculptures at Seuss Landing in Orlando, Florida. Leo was instrumental in the art direction for many of the sculpted characters and buildings now on display at this permanent Seuss attraction. His strikingly accurate Seuss works embody a masterful and intuitive Seussian sensibility, establishing him as a leading talent in interpretive sculpting.
Seuss embarked on an ingenious project in the early 1930s as he evolved from two-dimensional artworks to three-dimensional sculptures. What was most unusual for these mixed-media sculptures was the use of real animal parts including beaks, antlers and horns from deceased Forest Park Zoo animals where Seuss’s father was superintendent. Unorthodox Collection of Taxidermy was born in a cramped New York apartment and included a menagerie of inventive creatures with names like the “Two Horned Drouberhannis,” “Andulovian Grackler,” and “Semi-Normal Green-Lidded Fawn.” Shortly after Seuss created this unique collection of artworks, Look Magazine dubbed Seuss “The World’s Most Eminent Authority on Unheard-Of Animals.” To this day, Seuss’s Unorthodox Collection of Taxidermy remains as some of the finest examples of his inventive and multi-dimensional creativity.
Illustrator by day, surrealist by night, Seuss created a body of irrepressible work that redefines this American icon as an iconographic American artist. Yet, the Secret Art often shows a side of the artist that most readers, familiar with him through his classic children’s books, have never seen. This collection, created over a period of more than 60 years, encompasses the entirety of Seuss’s multi-dimensional talent. The artistic golden thread highlighted throughout this collection is apparent in each wildly imaginative and surreal Secret Art image. The Secret Art of Dr. Seuss is an inimitable collection of artworks created at night for his own personal enjoyment. These works were rarely, if ever, exhibited during his lifetime and provide a deeper glimpse into the art and life of this celebrated American Icon.
Signature Gallery Group a Managing and Accounting company.
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