Catarsini and Pietrasanta

5 – CATARSINI AND PIETRASANTA

CATARSINI AND THE STAGIO STAGI ART INSTITUTE

“«The art school of Pietrasanta must educate its pupils in the cult of worked material for purely decorative ends, and for this particular quality we must describe its teaching as being «for art beyond itself» — in the sense, mark you, not of a low craft that often ignores the supreme laws of harmony, but of that noble, artistic craft which draws on the order of taste and on knowledge, on those canons acquired in schools of artistic instruction. The «art school», in its various fields of teaching, certainly cannot go back to Liberty style, or to the baroque, or to the gothic; yet all the more classical styles are studied and stand as texts for the knowledge of what was produced in the world of the free arts.» A. Catarsini (Il Giornale del Mattino, October 1957)

During his years at the Stagio Stagi, Catarsini went on exhibiting and taking part in shows. But he gave himself over largely to teaching, and brought many new things, beginning with the library, which was expanded and enriched with many important volumes. Seeking to take the Institute out of its provincialism, he called famous artists to give lessons to the pupils, gave numerous lectures on ancient and modern art, and took a deep interest in his students, who still remember him with affection today. They were years dense with results and personal satisfaction. And they were the years in which he devoted himself most to writing — novels and stories, but also articles for the newspapers La Nazione and Il Tirreno, and contributions to periodicals: Versilia Oggi, as described on the totem at Forte dei Marmi, and Viareggio Ieri. He experimented with new materials, techniques and stylistic devices, which he went on developing in the twenty years after he stopped teaching, such as Simbolismo meccanico.