1950s Italian Dino Martens “Bianco Nero” Murano Glass Penguin

Wonderful, mid-century, Murano art glass, striped penguin is widely attributed to Dino Martens made in his Fasce Bianco Nero design combining white and black ribbons. This fabulous creature’s front has white, internal-cased stripes on colorless glass with stripes on the back fading from black to deep purple. Feet, eyes, and beak are black. Pontil has been smoothed, but not polished. You’ll love the optical illusions when viewing from different angles! This piece has lost its foil label; there are no other markings.

Born in Venice in 1894, Dino Martens studied painting and design at the Accademia di Belle Art in Rome. A talented artist, his paintings were exhibited at the Venice Biennale between 1924 and 1930. In the mid-1920s, Martens was a partner and decorator for S.A.L.I.R. and later took a position as designer for Salviati & Co. In 1939, upon returning from the African War, Martens became artistic director for the famed glass firm, Aureliano Toso.

Martens’ work for Aureliano Toso has become legendary for its inventiveness, experimentation and excess. His innovative use of oversized murrines, brightly colored metallic powders and fragments of glass rods, all expressed in wildly biomorphic forms, have become synonymous with Murano glass style of the 1950s.