Altamira: Italian Furniture Glassware Lamps Accessories
About the Item
- Creator:
- Dimensions:Height: 11 in (27.94 cm)Width: 8.5 in (21.59 cm)Depth: 0.1 in (2.54 mm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:circa 1956
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. In quite good original condition but for minor rubbing and bumping to the wrappers.
- Seller Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU828539022182
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.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: New York, NY
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 3 days of delivery.
- Altamira Catalog Circa 1956By Gio Ponti, AltamiraLocated in New York, NYMid-1950’s catalog for the fabled Altamira design center, located at 18 E 50th St in New York City, one of the top U.S. venues for high-end Italian design. Altamira commissioned a li...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Books
MaterialsPaper
- "FritzHansen-Furniture" Catalog, 1963By Fritz HansenLocated in New York, NYHardcover catalog of Fritz Hansen furniture featuring work by Arne Jacobsen, Borge Mogensen, Hans Wegner, Verner Panton, Kaare Klint, Karen and Ebbe Clemmensen, Kristian Vedel, Mogen...Category
Vintage 1960s Danish Scandinavian Modern Books
MaterialsPaper
- Pierre Chareau: Un Inventeur, l'architecteBy Pierre ChareauLocated in New York, NYMonograph on celebrated modernist architect and designer Pierre Chareau, published by Editions du Salon des Arts Managers in Paris, 1954. With text by Rene Herbst, preface by Francis...Category
Vintage 1950s French Mid-Century Modern Books
MaterialsPaper
- Kenneth Patchen Artist Book with Original PaintingBy Pablo PicassoLocated in New York, NYPanels for the Walls of Heaven, a square octavo volume of poems, abstract illustrations (based on paintings by the author) and outre typography, by experimental poet and artist Kenneth Patchen, published by Bern Porter...Category
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern Books
MaterialsPaper
- America's Best Small Houses Inscribed by William J. HennesseyBy George NelsonLocated in New York, NY1949 survey of small modernist houses in America, compiled and edited by William J. Hennessey based on selections by a jury of architectural photographers in...Category
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern Books
MaterialsPaper
- Behind the Picture Window by Bernard RudofskyBy T.H. Robsjohn-GibbingsLocated in New York, NYFirst edition of Bernard Rudofsky’s idiosyncratic and iconoclastic discussion of modern living conditions in postwar America, published by Oxford University Press in 1955. 201 pages, 8vo, hardcover with pictorial dust jacket. Several black-and-white illustrations. Rudofsky (1905-1988), an Austrian/American architect, curator, critic, industrial designer, exhibition designer, fashion designer, and author is best-known for his controversial exhibitions and accompanying catalogs, including Are Clothes Modern? (MoMA, 1944), Architecture Without Architects (MoMA, 1964), and Now I Lay Me Down to Eat (Cooper-Hewitt, 1980). He is also famous for his mid-century Bernardo sandal designs, which are popular again today. Behind the Picture Window...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Books
MaterialsPaper
- Massive 300+ Pc Lot Vintage Dollhouse Miniature Furniture Toys AccessoriesLocated in Dayton, OHA large extensive / impressive lot of 334 pieces of dollhouse furniture and miniatures. Mixture of handmade and store bought / kit made items. Variety of materials and levels of wear...Category
20th Century Toys and Dolls
MaterialsMetal
- Set of Three Important Key Books on Shaker Furniture and AccessoriesLocated in valatie, NYSet of Three Important Key Books on Shaker Furniture and Accessories: 1. By Shaker Hands by June Sprigg, Softcover Published by Knopf, 1975. New York. 2. Shaker Furniture; The Craft...Category
Late 20th Century American Books
MaterialsPaper
- Italian Empire Furniture, 1800-1843By Enrico ColleLocated in London, GBPublished by Rizzoli, first edition, 1998 This volume illustrates the singular and highly original direction that the Empire style took in Italy during the period of French rule a...Category
1990s American Mid-Century Modern Books
MaterialsPaper
- Sotheby's Important Italian and Continental Furniture, London 12/2007By Sotheby'sLocated in valatie, NYSotheby's: Important Italian & Continental Furniture London 12/4/07 sale. 252 pages with 122 lots, softcover auction catalogue. Includes a magnificent Roman Baroque Cabinet on Stand...Category
21st Century and Contemporary English Books
MaterialsPaper
- Large Crocodile Attaché Portfolio Desk AccessoryLocated in Haddonfield, NJLarge crocodile Attaché portfolio desk accessory.Category
20th Century American Belle Époque Nautical Objects
MaterialsCrocodile
- 18th 1st Edition of "New Art of Cooking" in Spanish by Juan AltamirasLocated in Miami, FL18th First Edition of "New Art of Cooking" in Spanish with skin flap. Traditional recipes of Spanish gastronomyCategory
Antique Mid-18th Century Spanish Baroque Books
MaterialsAnimal Skin, Paper
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
Barnaba Fornasetti’s Hallucinatory House Has His Father’s Spirit
Behind a nondescript facade in northeastern Milan is the magical residence of Barnaba Fornasetti. It's a shrine to the style developed by his design-legend father, which still defies categorization.
Billy Cotton Layers His Interiors with Lived-In Comfort
The Brooklyn-based designer is adept at styles ranging from austere to over-the-top, espousing an architectural, detail-oriented approach also evident in his line of furniture and lighting.