By The Late Emanuele Luzzati
Sculpted Metal Screen #5
From The Minos Lounge
MV STELLA OCEANIS

Items from MV STELLA OCEANIS (ex APHRODITE)

Measurements: 53 Inches Tall by 42 Inches Wide
Metal (Aluminum?) and Fibreglass Alloy?
Two Sided Sculpted Screen
Price: Please Contact Peter Knego at pk@midshipcentury.com for details

Details from the "front" or "A" side of the screen. Photos and copyright Peter Knego 2009.

Just in case you missed his bio elsewhere on this site, Emanuele Luzzati was born in Genoa in 1921. He studied at L'Ecôle Des Belles Artes in Lausanne, Switzerland, obtaining his diploma in 1944. His artististry would span a wide gamut of media in the ensuing decades from ceramics, painting, sculpture, children's books, and even animated film features (his collaborations with Guilio Gianni received two Oscar nominations). Luzzati was a first choice among a distinguished list of artists whose work would be displayed on the Italian ships of state. He created ceramic panels, paintings, tapestries, and sculpture for the most famous designers of the day, from Gio Ponti to Gustavo Pulitzer Finale and Nino Zoncada. The ships which carried his work include: CONTE BIANCAMANO, CONTE GRANDE, ANDREA DORIA, FEDERICO C, HOMERIC (Home Lines), GRIPSHOLM (1957), VICTORIA (Incres), EUGENIO C, OCEANIC (Home Lines), LEONARDO DA VINCI, STELLA MARIS II, STELLA OCEANIS, AUSONIA (Adriatica), STELLA SOLARIS, and scores of others. Mr. Luzzati lived in Genoa until his death in 2007. A gallery in the Porte Antico region of Genoa houses a museum dedicated to his works.

STELLA OCEANIS was an incredibly charming little ship. Built by Cantieri Riuniti dell Adriatico as an Italian war reparation to the Greek government, she entered service in 1965 as the relatively ordinary ferry APHRODITE. In 1966, she was acquired by Sun Lines and given a top to bottom refit at the Mariotti shipyard, which improved her profile and gave her a degree of elegance and modernity that raised the standards for Greek passenger ships of the time. Nino Zoncada oversaw the design, which included artwork from Luzzati and Enrico Paulucci. Luzzati did some extraordinary work for this highly underrated ship. In addition to a six panel gold leaf painting of The Minotaur, the Minos Lounge featured wonderful metallic screens depicting life and legend in the Minoan Era. There were four small screens in various corners of the room and one triple set that divided the lounge from the bar area.

Top, a Sun Line brochure image of this very same screen. Middle, the adjoinng bar in another vintage brochure shot. Both, Peter Knego collection. Bottom, the screen ensemble in 2001 -- this screen is the one on the left side of the esemble. Photo and copyright Peter Knego 2001.

STELLA OCEANIS was overshadowed by STELLA SOLARIS following the debut of the larger ship in 1971. In many ways, she and the even smaller STELLA MARIS II (ex BREMERHAVEN) were the precursors to the SOLARIS and the ships that set a new aesthetic standard among Greek ships that only a few like the SOLARIS could match, let alone surpass. She was sold for scrap in late 2003 as her then owners, Royal Olympic Cruises, teetered on bankruptcy.

Of the metal screens, this is the very last one from the STELLA OCEANIS. It was misplaced in India after being removed from the ship in 2004 and was finally delivered to MidShipCentury in 2009. Every one has been accounted for and there are no more other than this screen available. This is the very last one!

While visiting with Mr. Luzzati, his curator, and Paolo Piccione (the great Italian maritime author) in October of 2005 at Museo Luzzati in Genoa's Porto Antico, I was told that he only used this medium on the two final Sun Line ships and one private commission in England. His process was to make a ceramic sculpture, cast a mold of it, pour in the resin compound, and affix it to its inverted complement on the reverse side. Then, the metal coating was applied.

Posted: August 19, 2009