$54,000
Italy, c.
1945 Italian walnut, brass 88½ w x 39½ d x 30 h in (225 x 100 x 76 cm)
Throughout his career, Gio Ponti frequently worked in collaboration with a younger generation of Italian designers including Carlo di Carli, Ico Parisi and Franco Albini. This desk is likely by Ponti with the assistance of Franco Albini and features numerous details that point strongly to Ponti as the chief designer. The desk incorporates an angular structure that both designers utilized in various ways throughout their careers; foreshadowing Ponti's asymmetrical writing desk of 1953 and Albini's Fiorenza lounge chair and tables for Poggi, this desk has characteristics that illustrate an early experiment with expressive lines in furniture that were to be more clearly refined in subsequent years. Ponti incorporates a similar structure to this desk in a wooden table for Carugati in 1953 that uses a brass leveler at the floor. Ponti and Albini often designed desks with a raised writing surface suspended above a central cabinet structure containing recesses and drawers. The gently beveled understructure and curved sides of this desk top also relate to a large desk by Ponti created in 1948 in collaboration with the architect Mario Tedeschi.Literature:Ponti: The Complete Work 1923-1978, Ponti, ppg. 8, 164, 165 illustrate similar desks and tablesGio Ponti: L'Arte si Innamora Dell'Industria, La Pietra, ppg 64 and 106 for examples of Ponti's collaboration with Albini, ppg. 190 and 192 for illus
Auctioneer:
Wright Auctions
Date:
2005-05-22
