On 24 November Stucco Storico: The Story Behind a Craft opens at Bureau Europa, platform for architecture and design. Following on from Design by Choice, this is the second exhibition in our exhibition series about the migration of crafts.
I Maestri dei LaghiStucco Storico features the remarkable work of three stuccatori: Tomaso Vasalli, Joseph Moretti, and Petrus Nicolaas Gagini. Born and raised around Lake Lugano, they migrated in the 18th century to the region we now call the Euregio, where they decorated interiors with the ornamental stucco popular at that time. Their work has been well preserved in Maastricht, Aachen, Liège, and Eupen and since the 1990s has been restored and studied with renewed knowledge.
The most beautiful interiors of Limburg
Stucco Storico shows some of their most prominent interiors and examines how they came about. What techniques and tools does a master stuccatore use? How has stucco evolved since Roman times? In what period, society, and culture and with what influences and examples did these Italian stuccatori work in the Euregio? How has stucco changed interiors? What are this craft's innovations?
Contemporary role
The qualities and subtleties of 18th-century design play a new role today: where Rococo can be considered the last truly individualistic and artisan style period before the advent of industrialisation, mass production, and the uniformity of art and design, 21st-century artists are once again inspired by 18th-century crafts. Computer technologies now offer further possibilities, so that stucco, which has always adapted to the times, can still prove its contemporary relevance.
Curator: Remco Beckers under supervision of Saskia van Stein
Graphic identity: Hansje van Halem
Spatial design: Ludo Groen – The Berlage/TU Delft
Public Programme
We are developing a special program of events to accompany the exhibition. Keep an eye on our website, Facebook page and Instagram for more information.
Date: 24 November 2018 – 24 March 2019
Location: Bureau Europa, platform for architecture and design.
Admission: €5. €3 students/school pupils. Free for museum card holders
Exhbition in the making
The opening of the exhibition
The Exhibition
