LUISA MATTIUSSI
Translation by Chiara Cordoni
Luisa Mattiussi (1936 Udine, 2015 Magano in Riviera, UD), refined and creative textile artisan, lived her time fully, showing an international openness, seizing and embracing the basics of design established by Bauhaus and by the twentieth century artistic avant-gardes. Her precious human, professional and artistic experience must not be forgotten, but even more recognized as it represents a significative example of a life dedicated to art and to the knowledge of one of the most ancient crafts: weaving represents a world full of social, cultural and symbolic references. Thanks to the donation of the textile artefacts by Luisa Mattiussi to the Comune of Fagagna, by the will of the Mattiussi family and with the kind accordance of Luciana Mattiussi Sgobaro (Luisa’s younger sister), from 2017 Luisa’s atelier, which had become a distant memory, lives again in the Arte della Tessitura lab by the IL CAVALIR Museum (Ecomuseo della Gente di Collina) (Fagagna, UD).
Luisa Mattiussi in the background one of her artifacts of the Eighties with LM89 – Luisa Mattiussi 89 embroidered three times
It seems like a miracle to welcome today in our workshop, curated by Carmen Romeo since 2013, equipment (loom and accessories), documents (calendars, notebook of stitches, books), yarn and artefacts owned by Luisa Mattiussi. These materials that document a craftmanship-artistic textile activity present in Friuli between the Sixties and Nineties of the twentieth century, are rare and accessible, mostly for educational activities, as was Luisa’s desire.
In the old Palazzo della Comunità in Fagagna, ideal venue for the Arte della Tessitura workshop on weaving art, among the various equipment available for the participants, of great relevance is the telaio tiralicci (tiralicci loom), fully functional even though marked by the years (more than one hundred) and by the load of work, the warping pegs, the creel and many floss silk, linen, wool skeins, hand dyed with natural colors.
1965- Agenda Mattiussi: projects for haute couture handbags by Roberta di Camerino –Venice
Luisa Mattiussi loved color, and essential and harmonic drawing, she was patient and reserved, but proud to speak of her creations like an artistic journey which was realized thanks to the understanding reached with some (not all) of her clients, of whom she studied tastes and needs. Her production, started at the beginning of the Sixties, went on successfully for around forty years, decreasing gradually from the beginning of the Eighties on.
Luisa Mattiussi – 1985. 90×30 cm. cotton cloth. Thread overlays create delicate watercolor effects.
Luisa Mattiussi – 1982. 90×45 cm. cotton and silk floss cloth, the geometric design and the colors recall the Bauhaus style
IL CAVALÎR, the Ecomuseo della Gente di Collina, together with the “Cjase Cocèl”, the Museum’s Association for country life, is organizing the “LUISA MATTIUSSI, il sapere e l’incanto della tessitura” Exhibition, centered on the knowledge and wonder of weaving. This exhibition will show to a broader public the human and artistic career of this for the moment still unknown weaver. For the occasion a volume dedicated to Luisa and to the dyeing art she used will be published, with the intervention of Gian Paolo Gri and the essays of the researchers Carmen Romeo and Ennia Visentin.
My thanks go to Mrs. Luciana Mattiussi for allowing me to take pictures of the material belonging to her.
The images of this article come from the photographic archive of Carmen Romeo.
Carmen Romeo, Tavagnacco (UD) 14 May 2020
