VENICE.- From November 14, 2026, through March 29, 2027, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection presents Fucina degli Angeli: Peggy Guggenheim and 20th-century Artistic Glass, a comprehensive exhibition that sheds light on one of the most visionary chapters of postwar Murano glass through an in-depth historical analysis of the experiments, collaborations, and relationships that left a mark on the history of twentieth-century art. Organized by Cristina Beltrami, the show traces the creative adventure of the Fucina degli Angeli, founded by Egidio Costantini in the mid-1950s. Peggy Guggenheim’s role is central to this story: she supported Costantini at crucial moments and contributed to the international success of the project—not only by acquiring numerous pieces for her collection, also by broadening Costantini's network to include leading figures in twentieth-century art and proposing an exhibition strategy that benefitted from her extensive experience as a gallerist and patron.
Born in Brindisi, Apulia, but raised in Venice, Egidio Costantini (1912–2007) experienced the vibrant atmosphere of 1950s Murano, where internationally renowned artists met with the most talented glass masters. Murano, with its extraordinary ability to merge tradition, innovation, and internationalism, became fertile ground for exchanges between artists and glass masters, yielding innovations that propelled glass beyond its technical and expressive limits.
After leading the Centro Studi Pittori nell’Arte del Vetro (1953–55), in 1955 Costantini inaugurated a gallery specializing in artistic glass, in Campo Santi Filippo e Giacomo, with the name Fucina degli Angeli, suggested by Jean Cocteau. Costantini followed each phase of the creative process—from the initial concept, which was often elaborated from a drawing by the artist, to the translation into glass in the furnaces of Murano, to the presentation of the work to the public.
Guggenheim contributed to the project especially from the 1960s, when she broadened Costantini’s scope to include international artists and encouraged him to develop an exhibition strategy that established the Fucina beyond Italy’s borders. Beginning in 1964, works by the Fucina were exhibited in leading galleries such as the Galleria del Naviglio in Milan (1964–65), the Galleria dell’Obelisco in Rome (1965), and eventually the Museum of Modern Art in New York (1965), at the Sculpture in Glass exhibition—the first exhibition of glass sculpture organized by a U.S. museum. On this occasion, Time magazine described Costantini as “a contemporary Venetian visionary out to restore the grandeur that was glass four centuries ago” (September 17, 1965), cementing his notoriety across the Atlantic.
The exhibition brings together over one hundred works from major international institutions, including the Fondation Marguerite Arp in Locarno, the Historisches Museum Basel, the Kunstmuseum Walter in Augsburg, the MUDAC in Lausanne, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, alongside works from the Museo del Vetro in Murano, the Archivio Fucina degli Angeli, and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, as well as from private galleries and collections.
Starting with the earliest glass creations freely inspired by the ceramics of Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, the show explores collaborations between Costantini and some of the foremost figures of international art, including Arman, Jean (Hans) Arp, Jean Cocteau, Max Ernst, Paul Jenkins, Oskar Kokoschka, Matta, Dorothea Tanning, and Mark Tobey. Particular attention is given to collaborations with abstract artists such as Remo Bianco, Giuseppe Capogrossi e Luigi Veronesi, as well as Lucio Fontana, with whom Costantini explored the expressive possibilities of glass through a selection of Concetti spaziali. The works on view include Concetto Spaziale – Construction (1964), donated to Peggy Guggenheim and now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. A section of the exhibition examines the relationship between a selection of key figures in Japanese art and Venice during the 1960s and 1970s, including Miki Tomio, Katsuhiko Narita, Omura Mikuni, and Yokoo Tadanori. The final exhibition gallery is dedicated to later collaborations with longstanding associates of the Fucina such as James Coignard, Pino Mucchiut, and the U.S. architect John C. Portman.
By presenting glass works alongside drawings, paintings, and sculptures by the same artists, as well as archival material, the exhibition reveals how, from the 1950s, Costantini made a substantial contribution towards freeing glass from the confines of decorative art, establishing it as a medium for contemporary art and opening the furnaces of Murano to some of the leading figures of twentieth-century art.
The exhibition will be accompanied by an illustrated catalogue, published by Marsilio Arte, edited by Cristina Beltrami and featuring essays by Marianna Rossi and Stefano Turina.
