DOI issue:
No. 166 (May 1915)
DOI article:Studio-talk
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21212#0296
Studio-Talk
becomes almost a presentiment of success. In his
own circle he was one of the first in point of time,
and incontestably the first in point of merit, to
venture along the untrodden way. His early efforts
were attended with difficulty, for his robust in-
dependence of character awakened traditional
prejudices, exciting the sceptical distrust of some
and the ill will of others. At this stage of his
career, Vittore Grubicy, who aided him with an
almost paternal protection, oft-times cheered on his
young friend, and lavished upon him encourage-
ment and advice. During this period Quarti was
much influenced by the genius of the Japanese,
whose inexhaustible fecundity in decoration
charmed his soul athirst after a new beauty.
Years passed on and this untiring seeker worked
unceasingly in isolation and want, ignored by all,
one may say, save his enemies. At the Paris
Exhibition of 1900 his talent was revealed. It
was the delegates of Japan and Great Britain who
discovered, amid an accumulation of old-fashioned
productions in the feeble light of a room in which
they were all huddled together anyhow, this ex-
quisite furniture ot elegant and slender delicacy,
and hastened to bring it to the notice and to invite
the approbation of the other members of the Jury,
with the result that Quarti obtained the Grand
Prix International. This was his first public victory,
and it elicited a well-merited eulogy from the
architect Luca Beltrami, who while understanding
the beautiful works of antiquity and cultivating
tradition with an almost religious sentiment, can at
the same time appreciate and enjoy modern sesthetic
manifestations, provided they are worthy to be so
described.
Quarti himself had not dreamed of such a result,
which by making him appreciated outside his own
country at once enlarged the circle—till then
infinitely restricted—of his admirers. He was,
however, not content to rest on his laurels ; he
wished to do better, to progress, to transform
himself. Still quite young, having gained at one
bound the premier place among Italian makers of
furniture, and moreover disdainful of rivalry and
competition, he abstained from taking part in
competitions, even in that of the Exhibition ot
SMALL WRITING-TABLE AND COMMODE IN CITRON WOOD DESIGNED AND EXECUTED BY EUGENIO QUARTI
290
becomes almost a presentiment of success. In his
own circle he was one of the first in point of time,
and incontestably the first in point of merit, to
venture along the untrodden way. His early efforts
were attended with difficulty, for his robust in-
dependence of character awakened traditional
prejudices, exciting the sceptical distrust of some
and the ill will of others. At this stage of his
career, Vittore Grubicy, who aided him with an
almost paternal protection, oft-times cheered on his
young friend, and lavished upon him encourage-
ment and advice. During this period Quarti was
much influenced by the genius of the Japanese,
whose inexhaustible fecundity in decoration
charmed his soul athirst after a new beauty.
Years passed on and this untiring seeker worked
unceasingly in isolation and want, ignored by all,
one may say, save his enemies. At the Paris
Exhibition of 1900 his talent was revealed. It
was the delegates of Japan and Great Britain who
discovered, amid an accumulation of old-fashioned
productions in the feeble light of a room in which
they were all huddled together anyhow, this ex-
quisite furniture ot elegant and slender delicacy,
and hastened to bring it to the notice and to invite
the approbation of the other members of the Jury,
with the result that Quarti obtained the Grand
Prix International. This was his first public victory,
and it elicited a well-merited eulogy from the
architect Luca Beltrami, who while understanding
the beautiful works of antiquity and cultivating
tradition with an almost religious sentiment, can at
the same time appreciate and enjoy modern sesthetic
manifestations, provided they are worthy to be so
described.
Quarti himself had not dreamed of such a result,
which by making him appreciated outside his own
country at once enlarged the circle—till then
infinitely restricted—of his admirers. He was,
however, not content to rest on his laurels ; he
wished to do better, to progress, to transform
himself. Still quite young, having gained at one
bound the premier place among Italian makers of
furniture, and moreover disdainful of rivalry and
competition, he abstained from taking part in
competitions, even in that of the Exhibition ot
SMALL WRITING-TABLE AND COMMODE IN CITRON WOOD DESIGNED AND EXECUTED BY EUGENIO QUARTI
290