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Auction archive: Lot number 2

Gio Ponti and Piero Fornasetti

Estimate
£80,000 - £120,000
ca. US$114,512 - US$171,768
Price realised:
£98,500
ca. US$140,993
Auction archive: Lot number 2

Gio Ponti and Piero Fornasetti

Estimate
£80,000 - £120,000
ca. US$114,512 - US$171,768
Price realised:
£98,500
ca. US$140,993
Beschreibung:

Gio Ponti and Piero Fornasetti Unique 'Arlecchino' wardrobe 1948 Lithographic transfer-printed wood, hand-painted wood, wood, brass. 201 x 240 x 55 cm (79 1/8 x 94 1/2 x 21 5/8 in.) Together with a certificate of authenticity from the Gio Ponti Archives.
Provenance Private collection, Washington, DC Adam A. Weschler & Son, Washington, DC, 'Fine Art & Twentieth Century Decorative Arts', 13 September, 2003, lot 661 Acquired from the above by the present owner Exhibited 'Piero Fornasetti: 100 anni di follia pratica', Milan Triennale, 13 November, 2013-9 February, 2014 and then travelled to Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 11 March-14 June, 2015 Literature Patrick Mauriès, Fornasetti Designer of Dreams, London, 1991, illustrated pp. 168-69 Irene de Guttry and Maria Paola Maino, Il Mobile Italiano Degli Anni '40 e '50, Bari, 1992, illustrated p. 170, fig. 20 Barnaba Fornasetti and Mariuccia Casadio, Fornasetti: The Complete Universe, New York, 2010, illustrated p. 359, figs. 47-48 Patrick Mauriès, ed., Piero Fornasetti Practical Madness, New York 2015, illustrated pp. 120-21 Catalogue Essay On The Door And In The Door: A Reveal In Ponti & Fornasetti's Wardrobe Spaces Within the series of collaborations between Gio Ponti and Piero Fornasetti that took place from 1940 to the mid-1950s, the present wardrobe from 1948 stands out for a number of reasons. It marks the only time in their long working relationship together in which Ponti designed the entire unit and contributed to the exterior images. Fornasetti's role was to design and execute the hand-painted interior scenography. Marked by figurative illusionism it establishes a sharp contrast with Ponti's exterior, which is filled with abstractions. Together the two produced a nuanced synthesis that involves a complex spatial game that hinges on the readings of outdoor and indoor space, as well as metaphysical dimensions that, for their part, reveal a ludic sensibility. In this commission Ponti chose to emphasise the diamond pattern, one of his most treasured leitmotifs. However, the diamond form here is endlessly fragmented into pyramidal and obelisk-like shards that are set in a disquieting constellation on all four of the front-door panels. In addition, inverted obelisks schematically appear in the six brass sabots set into the wooden legs in their lowest zones. Within a few years, Ponti was to publish his theory of architecture in a 1957 book titled Amate l'architettura (‘Love Architecture’), one of whose alternate titles was Architettura è un cristallo (‘Architecture is a Crystal’). The dust jacket of this volume is adorned with numerous drawings of triangles, pyramids, obelisks and diamonds, all of which feature multiple facets to further celebrate and underscore the crystalline theme (pictured). The facade of the 1948 wardrobe already distils his obsession with the obelisk, so that one might even identify it as a kind of hermetic manifesto for his fascination with diamond-like, pointed crystalline forms. This approach is summed up in his own words: "The obelisk teaches architecture. It is perhaps the very symbol, the pure symbol, of architectural expression from which a song arises, the lines of which do not pose, do not sleep, do not merely stand but are statics in motion - the ecstasy of movement." (Gio Ponti Gio Ponti In Praise Of Architecture, New York, 1960, p. 108) Fornasetti's contribution to this surreal work is visible in the hand-painted work on the interior. The theme and composition chosen is an adaptation of one of his earliest works: the Harlequin of 1931, painted when he was 18 years old (pictured). In this reprise, the Harlequin is not alone but engages in silent dialogue with a young man in contemporary attire. In both paintings the positioning of the left foot is similar, however in 1931 it is resting on a musical drum, whereas in the 1948 wardrobe, it rests on an actual cabinet, thereby establishing a clever example of illusionism. Ponti designed this cabinet so that it appears to be floating: on its surfaces Fornasetti has hand-painted scenographies featuring musical instruments, a mask, draperies, and a witty nod to Caravaggio's Canestra di frutta (circa 1599), unquestionably Milan's most renowned still

Auction archive: Lot number 2
Auction:
Datum:
27 Apr 2016
Auction house:
Phillips
London
Beschreibung:

Gio Ponti and Piero Fornasetti Unique 'Arlecchino' wardrobe 1948 Lithographic transfer-printed wood, hand-painted wood, wood, brass. 201 x 240 x 55 cm (79 1/8 x 94 1/2 x 21 5/8 in.) Together with a certificate of authenticity from the Gio Ponti Archives.
Provenance Private collection, Washington, DC Adam A. Weschler & Son, Washington, DC, 'Fine Art & Twentieth Century Decorative Arts', 13 September, 2003, lot 661 Acquired from the above by the present owner Exhibited 'Piero Fornasetti: 100 anni di follia pratica', Milan Triennale, 13 November, 2013-9 February, 2014 and then travelled to Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 11 March-14 June, 2015 Literature Patrick Mauriès, Fornasetti Designer of Dreams, London, 1991, illustrated pp. 168-69 Irene de Guttry and Maria Paola Maino, Il Mobile Italiano Degli Anni '40 e '50, Bari, 1992, illustrated p. 170, fig. 20 Barnaba Fornasetti and Mariuccia Casadio, Fornasetti: The Complete Universe, New York, 2010, illustrated p. 359, figs. 47-48 Patrick Mauriès, ed., Piero Fornasetti Practical Madness, New York 2015, illustrated pp. 120-21 Catalogue Essay On The Door And In The Door: A Reveal In Ponti & Fornasetti's Wardrobe Spaces Within the series of collaborations between Gio Ponti and Piero Fornasetti that took place from 1940 to the mid-1950s, the present wardrobe from 1948 stands out for a number of reasons. It marks the only time in their long working relationship together in which Ponti designed the entire unit and contributed to the exterior images. Fornasetti's role was to design and execute the hand-painted interior scenography. Marked by figurative illusionism it establishes a sharp contrast with Ponti's exterior, which is filled with abstractions. Together the two produced a nuanced synthesis that involves a complex spatial game that hinges on the readings of outdoor and indoor space, as well as metaphysical dimensions that, for their part, reveal a ludic sensibility. In this commission Ponti chose to emphasise the diamond pattern, one of his most treasured leitmotifs. However, the diamond form here is endlessly fragmented into pyramidal and obelisk-like shards that are set in a disquieting constellation on all four of the front-door panels. In addition, inverted obelisks schematically appear in the six brass sabots set into the wooden legs in their lowest zones. Within a few years, Ponti was to publish his theory of architecture in a 1957 book titled Amate l'architettura (‘Love Architecture’), one of whose alternate titles was Architettura è un cristallo (‘Architecture is a Crystal’). The dust jacket of this volume is adorned with numerous drawings of triangles, pyramids, obelisks and diamonds, all of which feature multiple facets to further celebrate and underscore the crystalline theme (pictured). The facade of the 1948 wardrobe already distils his obsession with the obelisk, so that one might even identify it as a kind of hermetic manifesto for his fascination with diamond-like, pointed crystalline forms. This approach is summed up in his own words: "The obelisk teaches architecture. It is perhaps the very symbol, the pure symbol, of architectural expression from which a song arises, the lines of which do not pose, do not sleep, do not merely stand but are statics in motion - the ecstasy of movement." (Gio Ponti Gio Ponti In Praise Of Architecture, New York, 1960, p. 108) Fornasetti's contribution to this surreal work is visible in the hand-painted work on the interior. The theme and composition chosen is an adaptation of one of his earliest works: the Harlequin of 1931, painted when he was 18 years old (pictured). In this reprise, the Harlequin is not alone but engages in silent dialogue with a young man in contemporary attire. In both paintings the positioning of the left foot is similar, however in 1931 it is resting on a musical drum, whereas in the 1948 wardrobe, it rests on an actual cabinet, thereby establishing a clever example of illusionism. Ponti designed this cabinet so that it appears to be floating: on its surfaces Fornasetti has hand-painted scenographies featuring musical instruments, a mask, draperies, and a witty nod to Caravaggio's Canestra di frutta (circa 1599), unquestionably Milan's most renowned still

Auction archive: Lot number 2
Auction:
Datum:
27 Apr 2016
Auction house:
Phillips
London
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