20th Century, Piero Fornasetti Brass and Metal Tray with Base

About the Item

Piero Fornasetti was an Italian painter, sculptor, decorator, and craftsman who used ornamental and pictorial motifs to decorate silk scarves, furniture, plates, vessels, and similar objects. His work was characterized by a clever, surreal, and whimsical aesthetic. Fornasetti's work was influenced by Greek and Roman architecture, surrealism, and metaphysical art. Piero Fornasetti opened in the 1930s in Milan the "Stamperia d'Arte Fornasetti," an art print shop. A key moment in the founding of the company was the meeting between Piero and Gio Ponti in the 1940s, which led to the opening of Atelier Fornasetti. Here we have a beautiful little table with brass structure and silk-screen printed metal tray, designed by Piero Fornasetti. In very good condition, fully original and ready to be shipped. Presence of the original label.

Creator:
Piero Fornasetti (Designer)
Dimensions:
Height: 25.2 in (64 cm)Width: 23.23 in (59 cm)Depth: 9.85 in (25 cm)
Style:
Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Brass,Metal
Place of Origin:
Italy
Period:
1950-1959
Date of Manufacture:
1950
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use.
Seller Location:
Torino, IT
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU5450246028992

Shop All Piero Fornasetti

Piero Fornasetti

The Italian artist and designer Piero Fornasetti was one of the wittiest and most imaginative talents of the 20th century. He crafted an inimitable decorative style from a personal vocabulary of images that included birds, butterflies, hot-air balloons, architecture and — most frequently, and in some 500 variations — an enigmatic woman’s face based on that of Cavalieri. Fornasetti used transfer prints of these images, rendered in the style of engravings, to decorate an endless variety of furnishings and housewares that ranged from chairs, tables and decorative objects to dinner plates, table lamps and umbrella stands. His work is archly clever, often Surrealist and always fun.

Fornasetti was born in Milan, the son of an accountant, and he lived his entire life in the city. He showed artistic talent as a child and enrolled at Milan’s Brera Academy of Fine Art in 1930, but was expelled after two years for consistently failing to follow his professors’ orders.

A group of Fornasetti's hand-painted silk scarves, displayed in the 1933 Triennale di Milano, caught the eye of the architect and designer Gio Ponti, who, in the 1940s, became the artist's collaborator and patron. Beginning in the early 1950s, they created a striking series of desks, bureaus and secretaries that pair Ponti’s signature angular forms with Fornasetti’s decorative motifs — lighthearted arrangements of flowers and birds on some pieces, austere architectural imagery on others. The two worked together on numerous commissions for interiors, though their greatest project has been lost: the first-class lounges and restaurants of the luxury ocean liner Andrea Doria, which sank in 1956.

Fornasetti furnishings occupy an unusual and compelling niche in the decorative arts: they are odd yet pack a serious punch. They act, essentially, as functional sculpture. A large Fornasetti piece such as a cabinet or a desk can change the character of an entire room; his smaller works have the aesthetic power of a vase of flowers, providing a bright and alluring decorative note. The chimerical, fish-nor-fowl nature of Fornasetti’s work may be its greatest strength. It stands on its own. Bringing the Fornasetti look into the future is Barnaba Fornasetti, who took the reins of the company after his father's death.

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