Mid-Century Italian Ceramic Wall Plaque

Wall Plaque by Nicola Ciavardoni
Albisola, Italy
Circa 1955
6.5 inches at its widest point

This find continues my mid-century modern Italian ceramics spree. Lots of energy in this one. A photogenic piece that required only sunlight during the photo shoot to make a statement.

Born in 1923 in Castelli, in the province of Teramo, Nicola Ciavardoni attended the painting course at the local Art Institute, where he graduated in 1940. Together with his friend Pasquale Sciannella, he opened a ceramic workshop in some rooms of his house in Via Gesualdo Fuina in the early 1940s. In the following years he collaborated with the castellan manufacturers Vitta, Troisi, and S.P.I.C.A. In 1946 he moved to Albisola and went to work as a decorator at M.G.A. of the Mazzotti family, and in 1948 he was hired by Manifattura Ceramiche Italia. In 1951 he opened his own workshop named Ceramiche Artistiche Familiari (C.A.F.) for the production of figurative artistic ceramics in both traditional and modern style. He remained active until 1988 and died in Albisola in 2003. Source: http://www.archivioceramica.com/CERAMISTI/C/Ciavardoni%20Nicola.htm