1950 Pink Bronze Glass Fontana Arte Frame
View Similar Items
1950 Pink Bronze Glass Fontana Arte Frame
About the Item
- Creator:Fontana Arte (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 9.85 in (25 cm)Width: 7.88 in (20 cm)Depth: 6.7 in (17 cm)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1950
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Milano, IT
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU292438948123
Fontana Arte
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.
- Fontana Arte Frame Brass Glass 1950 ItalyBy Fontana ArteLocated in Milano, ITFrame Fontana Arte.Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Other More Mirrors
MaterialsGlass
- Cristal Arte Frame Glass Brass, 1955, ItalyBy Cristal ArteLocated in Milano, ITCristal Arte frame glass brass, 1955, Italy.Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Other Picture Frames
MaterialsGlass
- Fontana Arte Vase Glass 1950 ItalyBy Fontana ArteLocated in Milano, ITCategory
Vintage 1950s Italian Other Vases
MaterialsGlass
- Fontana Arte Centerpiece Glass, 1950, ItalyBy Fontana ArteLocated in Milano, ITFontana Arte.Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Other Centerpieces
MaterialsGlass
- Fontana Arte Frame 1940 Glass Brass, ItalyBy Fontana ArteLocated in Milano, ITFontana Arte frame 1940 glass brass, Italy.Category
Vintage 1940s Italian Other Table Mirrors
MaterialsGlass
- Fontana Arte Centerpiece Glass Bicolor 1950 ItalyBy Fontana ArteLocated in Milano, ITFontana Arte CenterpieceCategory
Vintage 1950s Italian Other Centerpieces
MaterialsGlass
- Fontana Arte Ground Glass Photo Frame, Italy 1950sBy Fontana ArteLocated in Naples, ITA beautiful cut glass photoframe design by Fontana Arte from the 1950s with an indented polished green edge. The front piece is neatly secured with two nickel plated round button scr...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Picture Frames
MaterialsGlass
- Fontana Arte Glass and Brass Picture FrameBy Fontana ArteLocated in Stamford, CTMid-Century Modern Fontana Arte style table top picture frame with spiral brass over glass rods. With a rust colored velvet stand. Beautiful It...Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Picture Frames
MaterialsBrass
- 1950s Fontana Arte Attributed Mid-Century Modern Glass Italian Picture FrameBy Fontana ArteLocated in Aci Castello, ITAn amazing rectangular picture frame designed and manufactured in Italy probably by Fontana arte, the glass as the green color typical of the Fifties, the edge of the glass is ground...Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Picture Frames
MaterialsGlass
- 1950s Fontana Arte Attributed Mid-Century Modern Glass Italian Picture FrameBy Fontana ArteLocated in Aci Castello, ITAn elegant Mid-Century Modern heavy verde Nilo glass rectangular picture frame designed and manufactured in Italy, quality of glass and cleanliness and rigor of its lines suggests th...Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Picture Frames
MaterialsGlass
- 1950s Mid-Century Modern Mirrored Glass Picture Frame by Fontana ArteBy Fontana ArteLocated in Aci Castello, ITA 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 Picture Frames
MaterialsCut Glass, Mirror
- Italian Fontana Arte Brass and Glass Picture FrameBy Fontana ArteLocated in Los Angeles, CAFontana 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 Picture Frames
MaterialsBrass