The Magic of Nicholas Mongiardo
On view through November 2021
Berkshire Botanical Garden
Stockbridge, Massachusetts
www.berkshirebotanical.org
For the first time in his 70-year career, Berkshire resident Nicholas Mongiardo presents a solo show of his signature lacquerwork at Berkshire Botanical Garden’s Leonhardt Galleries. The exhibition, “The Magic of Nicholas Mongiardo,” features screens, paintings and furniture showcasing more than two-dozen pieces spanning 30 years, and a body of work rarely seen in public.
Mongiardo’s illustrious career began by visiting the Brooklyn Museum, inspired by decorative furniture and arts. His interest in lacquer and eggshell inlay led to importing antiques, restoration, and creating furniture with an emphasis on art deco. Experiments with eggshell inlay and lacquer in his designs produced a unique style of art acquired over the decades by collectors and exhibited in museums, including an original eggshell and lacquer bubble mirror, “The Theory of Evolution,” displayed at the Cooper Hewitt Museum.
The exhibition will feature Mongiardo’s “Birth of a Planet,” a series of seven paintings created during the pandemic utilizing tortoise and coromandel eggshell organic lacquer. Additional paintings focusing on botanical and animal subjects including flowers, squirrels and birds are also featured, all with Mongiardo’s signature “Mercedes finish” achieved in a process of layering up to ten coats of lacquer on each piece.
[Image: Nicholas Mongiardo, The Squirrel Curious, 2014. Blue tortoise lacquer and pale gold, 17 x 17 in white oak frame. Photo by Robin Parow, Berkshire Botanical Garden]
