Rectangular Vase in Glazed Ceramic by Leandro Lega, 1984

Leandro Lega (1924-2002)
"A summary of his forty-year ceramic work is difficult if not impossible, so we limit ourselves to a few notes. His work was born from a passion for the earth, for its language and its breath, which retains the flavor of the land, healthy and generous or joyful, often enlivened by just two colours, full of taste and poetry. Candlewick mugs, large lit bowls, wall plates, fiery vases, glasses iridescent with the warm magic of its splendid and characteristic flamed reds of notable pictorial effectiveness, obtained with the skilful use of the oxide reduction technique entrusted to the fantastic play of fires and smoke and which seem to retain the vibrant color of the fire. They are characterized by freedom of design and chromatic finesse. In addition to the reds, jars and mugs painted with lively and fresh brushstrokes of intense blue or green also appear original and lively, which recall a beautiful folkish and genuine tone.

The decoration with flowered spots now pursues figurative suggestions or precedes freely in the field of abstraction or the informal tireless experimenter, it has used low temperature clays, stoneware, porcelain, refractory earths and has arrived at valuable plastic decorations on majolica panels, often large in size with beautiful integration between plastic expression and colour. The plastic values are obtained with safety and conciseness: the ceramist with the soul of a poet now knows how to dominate his material well, as sculptures and monuments also demonstrate."