Gio Ponti - Casa Fornaroli London Thursday, April 27, 2023 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    Antonio Fornaroli, Milan
    Thence by descent

  • Artist Biography

    Gio Ponti

    Italian • 1891 - 1979

    Among the most prolific talents to grace twentieth-century design, Gio Ponti defied categorization. Though trained as an architect, he made major contributions to the decorative arts, designing in such disparate materials as ceramics, glass, wood and metal. A gale force of interdisciplinary creativity, Ponti embraced new materials like plastic and aluminum but employed traditional materials such as marble and wood in original, unconventional ways.

    In the industrial realm, he designed buildings, cars, machinery and appliances — notably, the La Cornuta espresso machine for La Pavoni — and founded the ADI (Industrial Designer Association). Among the most special works by Gio Ponti are those that he made in collaboration with master craftsmen such as the cabinetmaker Giordano Chiesa, the illustrator Piero Fornasetti and the enamellist Paolo de Poli.

    View More Works

256

Sketch for a fresco on the Scala del Sapere in Palazzo Bo, Padua

circa 1940
Graphite and ink on tracing paper.
33.3 x 20.1 cm (13 1/8 x 7 7/8 in.)
Inscribed a Fornaroli Gio bottom left. Together with a certificate of expertise from the Gio Ponti Archives.

Estimate
£1,500 - 2,000 ‡♠

Sold for £4,064

Contact Specialist

Antonia King
Head of Sale, Design
+44 20 7901 7944
Antonia.King@phillips.com

Casa Fornaroli

London Auction 27 April 2023