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Osvaldo Borsani and Lucio Fontana

Rare illuminated drinks cabinet

circa 1950
Bronze, painted glass, glass, mirrored glass, mahogany, mahogany-veneered plywood, brass, painted brass, painted wood, coloured glass.
141.6 x 113.2 x 53 cm (55 3/4 x 44 5/8 x 20 7/8 in.)
Manufactured by Arredamenti Borsani, Varedo, Italy. Glass panel painted by Lucio Fontana, Milan, Italy. Archivio Lucio Fontana number N 3838/1.
The present drinks cabinet conveys all the lively enthusiasm of early 1950s Italy. In this period Osvaldo Borsani, a principal proponent of the Art Deco style in Italy, and Lucio Fontana, founder of the Spatialist movement, made an unlikely but dynamic pair when they collaborated on a number of projects. The present lot is an example of how they typically cooperated, with Borsani producing the furniture onto which Fontana would contribute surface decorations. Here, the double-lobed front is mounted with a pair of fantastical baroque bronze handles, the shaped doors slide apart to reveal a mirrored and illuminated interior decorated by Fontana.

Osvaldo Borsani and Lucio Fontana

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