Gaetano Pesce (b. 1939)

Up5 Donna and Up6

Details

Gaetano Pesce (b. 1939)
Up5 Donna and Up6
upholstered polyurethane foam and red stretch fabric lounge chair and ottoman
37 x 43½ x 42in. (94 x 110.5 x 106cm.)
Executed in 1969 for C & B Italia.

Provenance

Galerie Mourmans, Maastricht

Literature

A. Branzi, The Hot House-Italian New Wave Design, London 1984, p. 75 (illustrated)
F. Vanlaethem, Gaetano Pesce: Architecture Design Art, London 1989, pp. 11 and 52 (illustrated)
C. and P. Fiell, Modern Chairs, Cologne 1993, p. 107 (illustrated)
P. Dunas, M. Kries, P. Rohde, M. Schwartz-Clauss, A. von Vegesack and C. Wilk, 100 Masterpieces from the Vitra Design Museum Collection, Weil am Rhein 1996, pp. 50-51 (illustrated)
C. and P. Fiell, 1000 Chairs, Cologne 1997, pp. 460-461 and back cover (illustrated)

Exhibited

Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre George Pompidou, Gaetano Pesce: Le Temps des Questions, July-October 1996, p. 62 (illustrated; another example exhibited)
St. Louis, The St. Louis Art Museum, Gaetano Pesce, March-May 1997 (another example illustrated)

Lot Essay

Taking a broad and encompassing approach to design, Gaetano Pesce has accomplished an astonishing freedom of expression. One of the most common elements found in Pesce's work is the human body. A striking example of this can be found in his UP series. Chairs were made of molded foam then covered over with colorful stretch fabric. Compressed and vacuum-packed into PVC wrappers, the furniture literally bounced into life when unwrapped, the forms suggesting the roundness of the human body. The Up5 or Donna chair reflected Pesce's own view of women. "They have always been, against their own wills, prisoners of themselves." The small round foot rest takes the shape of the familiar prisoner's ball and chain.

More from Contemporary Art (Evening Sale)

View All