Young Seated Nude Woman. Vincenzo Ossani (Faenza, 1906–1960). Ceramic with metallic lustre.

Young Seated Nude Woman

Vincenzo Ossani (Faenza, 1906–1960)

Ceramic with metallic lustre.

Condition: excellent, with no breaks or restorations.

Faenza, 1930s.

Size: H 33 cm L 32 cm

Ceramic sculpture with metallic lustre depicting a female nude, signed “Vin. Ossani, Faenza”, with the signature located inside the hollow of the base. The work belongs to the figurative production of Faenza between the two World Wars and corresponds to a mature phase in Vincenzo Ossani’s artistic language.

Born and trained in Faenza, Ossani was a ceramicist and sculptor active from the 1920s through the post-war period. After his initial formation in the Faenza milieu, he worked during the 1920s with external manufactories, including the Ceramiche Artistiche F.lli Fanciullacci in Montelupo Fiorentino. He later returned to Romagna, where he took an active role in local artistic life and, in 1945, became one of the founding members of the Cooperativa Artigiana Ceramisti Faentini (CACF), alongside key figures of twentieth-century Faenza ceramics. The presence of the Ossani family in the local ceramic context is documented as early as the 1930s, in connection with the historic Cà Pirota workshop.

The sculpture is firmly rooted in the aesthetic climate of the 1930s and displays a clear Art Deco stylisation, with pronounced geometries and elongated female proportions. The hairstyle directly evokes the imagery of actresses of the period, providing a precise cultural and chronological reference.

The metallic lustre, applied according to the Faenza tradition, presents coppery and brown reflections with iridescent variations resulting from the firing process. The glossy glaze enhances the decorative quality of the sculpture, conceived to interact with light and with the refined interiors of its time.