Bruno Viganó and Carving Art
Good wood’s magic
Enrique O. Sdretch 1994 Clarín

An old postrenacentista bias determined, for long time, that patient craft works made of wood were not considered as good as those made of marble or stone. Furthermore, in some European cities, in the past, the statues and monuments made of wood were painted to look like bronze or marble.
When Bruno Vigano was born, just finished First World War, in a small town placed 20 km. from Milan, those prejudgments didn’t exist any more and, on the other hand, wood carving art were in its apogee and carvers, cabinetmakers and carpenters were fought for even by kings and queens.
Bruno Vigano from his childhood was an advantaged learner in the first of those disciplines: carving, and beside his father, a real artist and creator at that fine art, he became acquainted with tools like the gouge, and all kind of woods.
-Finally, I attended at Escuela de Bellas Artes de Milan, where I learnt all renascency styles; it was a time in which handcrafts were really valuable and the higher prices were paid for a piece of furniture or a Louis XIII, XV or XVI dressoire- tell us don Bruno Vigano in the attic of an old house at Parque Patricios neighbourhood, were he has been living since 1948, when he felt encouraged to come to Argentina on an Italian’s flag ship called “Jerusalem”.
-I came with two friends, one of them was a cabinetmaker and the other was a carpenter, and due to the fact that we travelled together on “ Jerusalem” ship, when we arrived we were called, in a funny way, “the three wise men”

-Did each of you work at your own craft?
-We did, with different luck. I can’t complain. I didn’t make a fortune, I couldn’t even buy a house where to settle the workshop, I can say proudly that I’ve worked for the wealthiest families of the country, for the golden class and, even during General Ongania’s government I was requested to make a work for the Quinta Presidencial.

-In one of your biographies, we read that one of the Russian ambassadors in Argentina also requested your labour of carver. How was it?
-The ambassador’s wife was an extraordinary painter and she had done a drawing of a relic she had seen during her stay in Paris. I was asked to carve that drawing in wood, and so I did. After a month of work I delivered it and they were more than pleased.
The attic’s floor where we interviewed Bruno Vigano is constantly covered with shavings, the work table, on the other hand, remain covered with wooden drop hammers and the most incredible variety of tools, all of them, of course, Italian. On the walls hang finished works and others await a wise restoration to be afterwards better than new. There are also moulds and patterns.
Periodically, he is visited by students of Bellas Artes and, between mate and mate, they chat about styles, modalities, creations, the Florentine art, the masters of renaissance, favourite woods and everything that can be related to working with wood.

-Which kind of wood do you prefer?
-I work with few varieties, but the one I use on the ninety per cent of my work is Mazard, it’s the noblest and the “sweetest”.
It’s worth adding that for over forty years Bruno Vigano worked for two of the most important mueblerías in Buenos Aires. He was asked for special jobs that were later sold as imported from Europe. Not long ago, a woman acquired ten ornaments made of Mahogany and Urunday that had been hanging from the ceiling for some years.
-It was a bargain – I got to know later that their final destination had been London and Paris. But that doesn’t matter. What I care about is that there are still people who are interested in this millenary art, even in a world which tends to robotize.