Giovanni Michelazzi (Florence, 1879 –
Florence 1920)
Architect
His starting as an architect on the
Florentine scene is in 1902-03 with a minor work, but really
meaningful considering his designing method, that will influence
the Liberty style in Tuscany. However, we lost any traces of his
work, and only in these last thirty days we have been able to
outline his activity. His work has been valued by critics and he
has a relevant place in the Italian Architecture of XX century.
His first intervention concerned a couple of adding to a
traditional small villa that was set in the IXI style avenue in
Florence, viale del Poggio Imperiale. Substituting a classic
portal, he juxtaposed a glass and iron penthouse, and restyled
completely an overhanging balcony, while adding concrete
mullions that hook to the wall by the means of a soft plasticity
and with a tympanic extension. Thanks to this intervention,
Michelazzi clearly revealed the origin of his language, to be
reconnected to French and Belgian Art Nouveau. At the same time
he showed also his working method, that was based on very subtle
elaborations of the decorative system, set on a wall level. It
is possible to retrace some stylemes that will recur in his
work, included some figures like the one of the dragon. If 1911
is the golden age for Michelazzi thanks tot eh realization of
his masterpiece, Casa-galleria Vichi in Florence, too, marks his
involutional career that will lead him to design some buildings
characterized by a backward stylistic salvage. We can see the
“villino Baroncelli in via Duprč” of 1914, as well as the neo
Reinassance mansion in via Giovanni Prati in Florence of 1915.
Main works :
From Wikipedia
Translation by Irene de Angelis-Curtis
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