Fontana Arte Pendant Lamp by Gio Ponti
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Fontana Arte Pendant Lamp by Gio Ponti
About the Item
Gio Ponti
An architect, furniture and industrial designer and editor, Gio Ponti was arguably the most influential figure in 20th-century Italian modernism.
Ponti (1891–1979) designed thousands of furnishings and products — from cabinets, lamps and chairs to ceramics and coffeemakers — and his buildings, including the brawny Pirelli Tower (1956) in his native Milan, and the castle-like Denver Art Museum (1971), were erected in 14 countries. Through Domus, the magazine he founded in 1928, Ponti brought attention to virtually every significant movement and creator in the spheres of modern art and design.
The questing intelligence Ponti brought to Domus is reflected in his work: as protean as he was prolific, Ponti’s style can’t be pegged to a specific genre. In the 1920s, as artistic director for the Tuscan porcelain maker Richard Ginori, he fused old and new; his ceramic forms were modern, but decorated with motifs from Roman antiquity. In pre-war Italy, modernist design was encouraged, and after the conflict, Ponti — along with designers such as Carlo Mollino, Franco Albini, Marco Zanuso — found a receptive audience for their novel, idiosyncratic work. Ponti’s typical furniture forms from the period, such as the wedge-shaped Distex chair, are simple, gently angular, and colorful; equally elegant and functional. In the 1960s and ’70s, Ponti’s style evolved again as he explored biomorphic shapes, and embraced the expressive, experimental designs of Ettore Sottsass Jr., Joe Colombo and others.
His signature furniture piece — the one by which he is represented in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Germany’s Vitra Design Museum and elsewhere — is the sleek Superleggera chair, produced by Cassina starting in 1957. (The name translates as “superlightweight” — advertisements featured a model lifting it with one finger.) Ponti had a playful side, best shown in a collaboration he began in the late 1940s with the graphic artist Piero Fornasetti. Ponti furnishings were decorated with bright finishes and Fornasetti's whimsical lithographic transfer prints of things such as butterflies, birds or flowers; the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts possesses a 1950 secretary from their Architetturra series, which feature case pieces covered in images of building interiors and facades. The grandest project Ponti and Fornasetti undertook, however, lies on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean: the interiors of the luxury liner Andrea Doria, which sank in 1956.
Widely praised retrospectives at the Queens Museum of Art in 2001 and at the Design Museum London in 2002 sparked a renewed interest in Ponti among modern design aficionados. (Marco Romanelli’s monograph written for the London show, offers a fine overview of Ponti’s work.) Today, a wide array of Ponti’s designs are snapped up by savvy collectors who want to give their homes a touch of Italian panache and effortless chic.
Find a range of Gio Ponti furniture on 1stDibs.
- Midcentury Fontana Arte chandelier by Gio Ponti, Italy 1940sBy Gio Ponti, Fontana ArteLocated in Piacenza, ItalyStunning chandelier designed by Gio Ponti for Fontana Arte This suspension lamp, manufactured by Fontana Arte, features a transparent glass disc with metal and brass details Origin...Category
Vintage 1940s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsBrass
- Gio Ponti “Padelle” Ceiling Light for Fontana Arte, 1933By Fontana Arte, Gio PontiLocated in Lonigo, VenetoGio Ponti “Padelle” ceiling light for Fontana Arte, brass and glass, Italy, 1933. This suspension lamp, manufactured by Fontana Arte, features a transparent glass disc and a brass o...Category
Vintage 1930s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsBrass
- Rare Ceiling Light by Gio Ponti and Pietro Chiesa for Fontana ArteBy Fontana Arte, Gio Ponti, Pietro ChiesaLocated in Los Angeles, CARare Ceiling Light by Gio Ponti and Pietro Chiesa for Fontana Arte. Designed and manufactured in Italy, circa the 1930s. Unique sculptural 'Saturn' ceiling light, with an illustrativ...Category
Vintage 1930s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsMetal, Brass
- Gio Ponti Fontana Arte 0024 Suspension Lamp in Glass and Brass, Designed in 1932By Fontana Arte, Gio PontiLocated in Brooklyn, NYDesigned by Gio Ponti and manufactured by Fontana Arte, the 0024 suspension lamp was designed in 1932 and made from transparent tempered glass discs, tubular sandblasted glass diffuser and a chrome-plated brass frame with canopy and all frame trim in chromed. The lamp features a series of horizontal discs in clear tempered glass for a true light...Category
Vintage 1930s Italian Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsBrass
- Gio Ponti for Fontana Arte brass crystal frosted glass chandelier 1938By Fontana Arte, Gio PontiLocated in Paris, IDFThis superb chandelier, designed by Gio Ponti for Fontana Arte in 1938, is a variation of the Padelle chandelier designed in the early 1930s. It consists of a large flat disc of crys...Category
Vintage 1930s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsBrass
- Gio Ponti for Fontana Arte Suspension lamp mod. 0024 metal and glass design 1933By Fontana Arte, Gio PontiLocated in Milan, ITAn iconic design by Gio Ponti for Fontana Arte in 1933, this chandelier is a classic of Italian design. With its timeless elegance and a geometrically simple idea, this chandelier ca...Category
Vintage 1930s Italian Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsMetal
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