Fontana Arte Picture Frames
Best known for its elegant and innovative vintage lighting fixtures, the Milan-based firm Fontana Arte pioneered one of the key features of 20th-century and contemporary Italian design: the union of artistry and industry wrought by partnerships between creative talents — chiefly architects — and entrepreneurial businesses. Fontana Arte is further distinguished by having had as artistic director, in succession, four of Italy’s most inventive modernist designers: Gio Ponti, Pietro Chiesa, French transplant Max Ingrand and Gae Aulenti.
The bread and butter of the glassmaking company that Luigi Fontana founded in 1881 was plate-glass panels for the construction industry. In 1930, Fontana met Ponti — then the artistic director of the Richard Ginori ceramics workshop and the editor of the influential magazine Domus — at a biannual design exhibition that became the precursor to today’s Milan Design Triennale, and the two hatched an idea for a furniture and housewares firm. Fontana Arte was incorporated in 1932 with Ponti as its chief of design. He contributed several lamps that remain among the company’s signature works, including the orb-atop-cone Bilia table lamp and the 0024 pendant — a stratified hanging sphere.
The following year, Fontana Arte partnered with the influential Milan studio glassmaker and retailer Pietro Chiesa, who took over as artistic director. Chiesa’s designs for lighting — as well as for tables and items including vases and ashtrays — express an appreciation for fluidity and simplicity of line, as seen in works such as his flute-shaped Luminator floor lamp and the 1932 Fontana table — an arched sheet of glass that is held in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
Six years after Chiesa’s 1948 death, the École des Beaux Arts–trained Max Ingrand took over as head of design at Fontana Arte. Ingrand brought a similarly expressive formal sensibility to wares such as lamps and mirrors, but he also had a masterful eye for the manipulation of glass surfaces — whether they be cut, frosted, acid-etched or sand-blasted. His classic design is the Fontana table lamp of 1954, which has a truncated cone shade and curved body, both of which are made of pure, chic white-frosted glass.
Following Ingrand, the often-audacious Italian architect Gae Aulenti served as the company’s artistic director from 1979 to 1996, and while she generally insisted that furnishings take second place aesthetically to architecture, she made an exception for Fontana Arte pieces such as the Tavolo con Ruote series of glass coffee and dining tables on wheels, bold lighting pieces such as the Parola series and the Giova, a combination flower vase and table lamp. As a key incubator of modern design under Aulenti’s tenure, Fontana Arte remained true to its long-held commitment — creating objects that have never been less than daring.
Find vintage Fontana Arte lighting fixtures such as pendants, table lamps and more on 1stDibs.
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Creator: Fontana Arte
Italian Fontana Arte Brass and Glass Picture Frame
By Fontana Arte
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Fontana Arte Solid Brass Picture frame with a uniquely designed support, that also is used as the piece that hold the image agains the glass....
Category
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Fontana Arte Picture Frames
Materials
Brass
Picture Frame Decorative Object Luigi Fontana for Fontana Arte Midcentury 1940s
By Luigi Fontana, Fontana Arte
Located in Palermo, IT
Double Photo frame by Luigi Fontana for Fontana Arte produced in Italy in the 1940s.
The multiform photo frame has a wooden structure and decorated and ground glass with metal access...
Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Fontana Arte Picture Frames
Materials
Metal
No 1370 Picture Frame by Pietro Chiesa for Fontana Arte
By Pietro Chiesa, Fontana Arte
Located in New York, NY
Glass and brass. Rare tabletop frame designed by Pietro Chiesa for Fontana Arte. Elegant polished crystal panels with brass-banded fittings and stand.
Horizontal version also availa...
Category
1940s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Picture Frames
Materials
Brass
20th Century Max Ingrand Oval Photo Frame in Glass and Brass for FontanaArte 50s
By Fontana Arte
Located in Turin, Turin
FontanaArte is an Italian company founded in Milan (as Fontana Arte) in 1932 by Luigi Fontana and Giò Ponti and specializing in glass processing and the production of furnishing acce...
Category
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Picture Frames
Materials
Brass
No 1371 Picture Frame by Pietro Chiesa for Fontana Arte
By Pietro Chiesa, Fontana Arte
Located in New York, NY
Glass, brass. Rare horizontal tabletop frame designed by Pietro Chiesa for Fontana Arte. Elegant polished crystal panels with brass-banded fittings and stand.
Vertical version availa...
Category
1940s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Picture Frames
Materials
Brass
Max Ingrand brass and glass picture frame for Fontana Arte, Italy 1960s
By Fontana Arte, Max Ingrand
Located in Milan, IT
Max Ingrand Picture Frame for Fontana Arte,
Model 1371.
Italy 1960s
Category
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Picture Frames
Materials
Brass
1950s Mid-Century Modern Mirrored Glass Picture Frame by Fontana Arte
By Fontana Arte
Located in Aci Castello, IT
A perfectly preserved mirrored glass rectangular picture frame designed and manufactured by Fontana Arte, one of the leading manufacturers of Mid-Century Modern design in Italy. The ...
Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Fontana Arte Picture Frames
Materials
Cut Glass, Mirror
Fontana Arte Pair of Italian Glass Picture Frames Large and Small
By Fontana Arte
Located in Chicago, IL
Pair of Fontana Arte Italian glass picture frames, one large and one small. The smaller one with the Made in Italy label. Perfect condition almost never used. No chips to the glass. ...
Category
1970s Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Picture Frames
Materials
Glass
20th Century Fontana Art Picture Frame entirely in Ground Glass '60s
By Fontana Arte
Located in Turin, Turin
Picture frame designed in the semplicity of the Manufacturer Fontana Arte in 1960s. The picture frame is entirely in ground glass. The picture or the photo could be inserted from the...
Category
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Picture Frames
Materials
Glass
20th Century Pietro Chiesa Fontana Arte Photo Frame in Wood and Ground Glass 40s
By Pietro Chiesa, Fontana Arte
Located in Turin, Turin
Photo frame designed in 40s by Pietro Chiesa for Fontana Arte. The photo frame is composed of two parts united as a "sandwich", one side is in ground glass, the back is in wood, the support is in brass. This frame is very rare for its dimensions.
Perfect idea for wedding, birthday, anniversary or graduation gift...
Category
1940s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Picture Frames
Materials
Brass
Fontana Arte Frame Glass Wood, 1950, Italy
By Fontana Arte
Located in Milano, IT
Fontana Arte frame glass wood, 1950, Italy.
Category
1950s Italian Other Vintage Fontana Arte Picture Frames
Materials
Glass
Fontana Arte Vintage Glass Photo Frame
By Fontana Arte
Located in Milano, IT
Rare glass photo frame made in the 1960s by Fontana Arte.
The photo holder has a classic rectangular shape with frosted corners, made entirely of gl...
Category
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Picture Frames
Materials
Glass
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By Fontana Arte, Pietro Chiesa
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Amazing midcentury carved crystal glass ashtray. This wonderful item was designed by Pietro Chiesa for Fontana Arte in Italy during 1960s.
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Pietro Chiesa (1892-1948) was an Italian designer who specialised in modernist and Art Deco designs. Chiesa was one of the founding members of FontanaArte which was established in 1932, and as its artistic director, he designed hundreds of items ranging from furniture to objets d’art. A member of the Swiss Ticino family of artists, Chiesa is best known for his glass furnishing pieces, such as the Fontana table.
Fontana Arte (established in 1933) was founded by Luigi Fontana, Gio Ponti, and Pietro Chiesa as a premier producer and marketer of furniture, lighting, and furnishing accessories, and distignuished itself applying the highest standards of glass craftsmanship and techniques. Throughout Fontana Arte’s history, its lamps and furniture have been highly sought after due to their superior glass craftsmanship and innovative design.
Saint-Gobain Invests in Luigi Fontanta e Compagni
The origins of Fontana Arte go back to 1881, when Luigi Fontana established Luigi Fontana e Compagni to produce and market sheet glass for the construction industry. Luigi’s success as an entrepreneur in the growing Italian construction sector attracted the attention of the French glass-making company Saint-Gobain, which, in 1910, took a majority stake in the ownership of Luigi Fontana e Compagni transforming it into a “Società Anonima” still under the direction of Luigi Fontana. By the mid-1920s, Fontana e Compagni’s capabilities included the creation of artistic stained glass that was mostly used in functional and decorative settings of churches and cathedrals.
Gio Ponti Becomes Fontana e Compagni’s Artistic Director
In just a few years, the production of such artistic stained-glass products had become of such importance that a different division within the Fontana e Compagni was created to further its development. In 1930, Luigi Fontana met the successful young Milanese architect Gio Ponti, who was then the art director of Richard-Ginori pottery company, and they formed a partnership, under the name of Luigi Fontana SA, for the production of light fixtures, furniture, and furnishing objects. During this initial period, Gio Ponti designed from Fontana Arte the now-iconic 0024 Pendant light (1931) and the Bilia Table Lamp (1931).
Pietro Chiesa, Gio Ponti, and Luigi Fontana Found Fontana Arte
In 1932, Gio Ponti approached Pietro Chiesa to join him and Luigi Fontana and to become Luigi Fontana SA’s artistic director. In 1933, Pietro Chiesa merged his studio, the Bottega di Pietro Chiesa, with Fontana SA, and together Luigi Fontana, Gio Ponti, and Chiesa founded Fontana Arte. During Chiesa’s tenure as artistic director, Fontana Arte’s production became rich and varied. It included furniture, tables, mirrors, sculptures, and stained glass, but it was certainly in the lighting sector where Fontana Arte excelled by creating lamps and lights with the highest standards in glass craftsmanship and modern designs. From this period came the Luminator floor lamp, the Cartoccio glass vase, and the Fontana Arte table made out of a single band of bent clear glass, (all designed by Pietro Chiesa, in 1932); and the Naska lamp...
Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Fontana Arte Picture Frames
Materials
Crystal
H 0.79 in W 7.88 in D 7.88 in
Previously Available Items
Exceptional 1950s Italian Fontana Arte Picture Frame
By Fontana Arte
Located in Roma, IT
An extraordinary find. This perfectly designed heavy glass picture frame in hand-blown turquoise glass was made by Fontana Arte in the 1950s and was found here in Italy. The design a...
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Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Fontana Arte Picture Frames
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Blown Glass, Glass, Art Glass
Glass Photo Frame attributed to Pietro Chiesa for Fontana Arte, Italy, 1940s
By Pietro Chiesa, Fontana Arte
Located in Albano Laziale, Rome/Lazio
Crystal photo frame attributed to Pietro Chiesa for Fontana Arte, Italy. Produced sometime during the 1940s. The entire frame including the backrest is made in the typical green glas...
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1940s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Picture Frames
Materials
Glass
H 12.21 in W 9.45 in D 0.79 in
Fontana Arte Vintage Glass Photo Frame
By Fontana Arte
Located in Milano, IT
Rare glass photo frame made in the 1960s by Fontana Arte.
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1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Picture Frames
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Max Ingrand Picture Frame for Fontana Arte, Italy 1960s
By Fontana Arte, Max Ingrand
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20th Century Pietro Chiesa Fontana Arte Photo Frame Wood Glass Brass Vert. 40s
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After an apprenticeship with the glassmaker Giannotti Pietro Chiesa opened his own glass workshop in 1921. In the early 1920s he participated in the Monza Biennale, the Venice Biennale, the Exposition des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, and exhibitions in Cologne and Barcelona. He combines extreme modernity and high technical skill in his work. In 1932 he was called by Gio Ponti to share the artistic direction of the newly founded FontanaArte, a role that would give him the opportunity to express all his creativity, designing more than a thousand different objects (furniture, tables, lamps, stained glass, objets d'art, etc.).
Here is a vertical photo...
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1940s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Picture Frames
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H 9.85 in W 7.88 in D 4.34 in
20th Century Pietro Chiesa Fontana Arte Photo Frame in Wood Glass and Brass 40s
By Pietro Chiesa, Fontana Arte
Located in Turin, Turin
After an apprenticeship with the glassmaker Giannotti Pietro Chiesa opened his own glass workshop in 1921. In the early 1920s he participated in the Monza Biennale, the Venice Biennale, the Exposition des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, and exhibitions in Cologne and Barcelona. He combines extreme modernity and high technical skill in his work. In 1932 he was called by Gio Ponti to share the artistic direction of the newly founded FontanaArte, a role that would give him the opportunity to express all his creativity, designing more than a thousand different objects (furniture, tables, lamps, stained glass, objets d'art, etc.).
Here is a horizontal photo frame...
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1940s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Picture Frames
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Brass
H 7.49 in W 9.85 in D 4.34 in
1950s Fontana Arte Mid-Century Modern Chiselled Verde Nilo Glass Picture Frame
By Fontana Arte
Located in Aci Castello, IT
A stylish heavy Verde Nilo glass picutre frame designed and manufactured in Italy in the Fifties by Fontana Arte in very good conditions. The picture frame it's a stunning and unique...
Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Fontana Arte Picture Frames
Materials
Glass
H 14.97 in W 12.21 in D 2.76 in
20th Century Max Ingrand Picture Frame for Fontana Arte Mod 1371 Glass and Brass
By Fontana Arte, Max Ingrand
Located in Turin, Turin
Picture frame model n. 1371 designed by Max Ingrand for Fontana Arte in 1960s. The picture frame is in glass and brass, with its own patina of time.
Category
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Picture Frames
Materials
Brass
H 9.06 in W 7.09 in D 4.73 in
Fontana Arte Brass Picture Frame, 1960's
By Fontana Arte
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Nice sculptural design
Undulating brass frame with original glass (small chip on corner) or can switch to a vanity mirror
A great decorative piece that will compliment a Gio Ponti c...
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Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Fontana Arte Picture Frames
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Brass
1950s Mid-Century Modern Green Nilo Glass Picture Frame by Fontana Arte
By Max Ingrand, Fontana Arte
Located in Aci Castello, IT
A stylish heavy verde Nilo glass and brass picture frame designed and manufactured in Italy in the Fifties by Fontana Arte, it's in perfect conditions.
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Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Fontana Arte Picture Frames
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Brass
H 13.39 in W 10.24 in D 7.88 in
20th Century Pietro Chiesa Fontana Arte Photo Frame in Wood Glass and Brass 40s
By Pietro Chiesa, Fontana Arte
Located in Turin, Turin
Photo Frame designed in 40s by Pietro Chiesa for Fontana Arte. The photo frame is composed of two parts united as a "sandwich", one side is in ground glass, the back is in wood, the ...
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1940s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fontana Arte Picture Frames
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H 11.82 in W 9.45 in D 4.34 in
Fontana Arte Frame Glass 1965 Italy
By Fontana Arte
Located in Milano, IT
Fontana Arte frame glass 1965 Italy.
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1960s Italian Other Vintage Fontana Arte Picture Frames
Materials
Glass
Fontana Arte picture frames for sale on 1stDibs.
Fontana Arte picture frames are available for sale on 1stDibs. These distinctive items are frequently made of glass and are designed with extraordinary care. There are many options to choose from in our collection of Fontana Arte picture frames, although gray editions of this piece are particularly popular. Many of the original picture frames by Fontana Arte were created in the mid-century modern style in italy during the 20th century. If you’re looking for additional options, many customers also consider picture frames by Tommaso Barbi, Venini, and Gucci. Prices for Fontana Arte picture frames can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — on 1stDibs, these items begin at $968 and can go as high as $9,456, while a piece like these, on average, fetch $2,846.
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