$140,000
Italy, c.
1950 lacquered transfer painted wood, enameled metal, brass 31½ w x 16 d x 88 h in (80 x 41 x 224 cm)
Piero Fornasetti's contribution to Italian design is unparalleled in its variety, imagination, and style. Tackling objects from ashtrays to furniture to bathroom sets, he used imagery from classical Italian architecture to portraits of a fin-de-siecle courtesan. Spending his life in Milan, Fornasetti was surrounded by Italian art, design and architecture, and drew on these traditions in the creation of his own unique visual vocabulary. He extracted bits and pieces of culture and reinterpreted them to fit the modern objects he decorated. Remnants of artistic and scientific history are seemingly scattered over the surfaces of everyday objects, but Fornasetti's creative process was one of deduction and filtration. No image or placement of decoration was random, rather the details were well considered and each choice furthered his artistic vision. The results are mysterious visual puzzles and surreal scenes that palpate with mnemonic weight.
Fornasetti bridged the usually disparate design elements of form and decoration by incorporating the formal qualities of the object into the decorative details. By playing on the shape and scale of the objects, he reinforced his unique vision of a world composed of appropriated images. Metaphorically, this visual system stands in for a view of contemporary culture as united with the past and future. While he draw
Auctioneer:
Wright Auctions
Date:
2005-03-20
