Gino Levi Montalcini and Giuseppe Pagano - Design New York Tuesday, December 13, 2016 | Phillips

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  • Literature

    Domus, no. 30, June 1930, pp. 6, 70-73, 75-76, 78-79 (special issue dedicated to the Palazzo Gualino)
    Irene de Guttry and Maria Paola Maino, Il mobile déco italiano 1920-1940, Bari, 1988, p. 189
    Alberto Bassi and Laura Castagno, Giuseppe Pagano, Rome, 1994, p.52, fig. 38

  • Catalogue Essay

    Riccardo Gualino commissioned Giuseppe Pagano and Gino Levi Montalcini to design the Palazzo degli Uffici Gualino in 1928. The building has housed a number of different offices, including those for Fiat and later, the city of Turin. Pagano was primarily responsible for the building’s architecture, and Montalcini for the furnishings. The project received immediate critical acclaim as one of Italy’s first fully realized examples of Rationalist architecture, with Domus devoting an entire issue to the commission in the summer of 1930. The present pair of armchairs is one example of sixty-seven different furniture models that Montalcini designed for the interior. His unified furnishings plan made use of modernist materials such as chromium-plated metal, glass, leather and Buxus— a new cellulose-based product manufactured by the Giacomo Bosso factory where the furniture was also made. The geometric severity and balanced proportions of his designs are a tribute to the ideas of Italian Rationalist architecture expressed in furniture.

86

Pair of armchairs, from the Palazzo Gualino, Turin

circa 1928
Buxus-covered wood, fabric.
Each: 31 1/4 x 23 1/2 x 26 3/4 in. (79.4 x 59.7 x 67.9 cm)
Manufactured by Cartiere Giacomo Bosso, Turin, Italy.

Estimate
$10,000 - 15,000 

Sold for $18,750

Contact Specialist
Cordelia Lembo
Specialist, Head of Sale
+1 212 940 1265

Design

New York Auction 13 December 2016